The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a court filing on Monday that Google “explicitly and repeatedly” told its employees to protect business documents from court disclosure by using false requests for legal advice. The allegations, reported earlier by Axios, are part of the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, which accuses the tech giant of illegally holding a monopoly in search and search advertising.
Google used this method to hide thousands of documents, including details about revenue-sharing agreements and Android mobile app distribution agreements, the DOJ said. It asked the judge to force the disclosure of more documents.
In an emailed statement, Google hit back at the accusation. “Our team has worked diligently over the years to respond to inquiries and lawsuits, and advice to the contrary is simply wrong,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
“Like other U.S. companies, we educate our employees about legal privilege and when to seek Legal advice. And, in this case alone, we provided the Department of Justice with more than 4 million documents — including documents that many employees believe could potentially be privileged.”