Judge blasts Google over ‘destroyed' evidence as another DOJ antitrust case looms: ‘Clear abuse of privilege'

Core Points - Google is facing significant legal challenges due to its alleged digital advertising monopoly, with a judge accusing the company of "clear abuse of privilege" for automatically deleting employee chat records [1][3] - The automatic deletion policy resulted in employee messages being erased after 24 hours, which the judge criticized as irresponsible corporate behavior [3][4] - The potential consequences for Google include the breakup of its digital advertising empire, which generated over $300 billion in revenue last year [3] - The trial is set to begin on September 9, following a previous ruling that found Google in violation of antitrust laws regarding its online search business [3] - The judge indicated that significant evidence may have been destroyed, which could adversely affect Google's defense strategy [4][6] - Google has faced ongoing criticism for its failure to preserve relevant employee chat records during various antitrust investigations [4][6] - The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, has stated that actions have been taken to end the auto-erase policy [6] - Other judges have also expressed strong criticism of Google's evidence handling, with one describing it as a "frontal assault on the fair administration of justice" [7]