DOJ Accuses Google Of Delaying Document Handover In Antitrust Trial

The US Department of Justice accused Google of dragging its feet in providing documents in preparation for a trial on allegations that it broke antitrust law while the search and advertising giant claimed that the government was being unreasonable, reported Reuters.

In a joint filing late Thursday, March 18, the Justice Department stated that Alphabet’s Google had balked at some search terms that the government wanted it to use to locate relevant documents. The Justice Department estimated the request to Google would produce 4.85 million documents.

It also stated that Google had refused to agree to dozens of additional “custodians,” essentially people whose emails and other documents would be searched as part of pre-trial document production.

Google, for its part, stated that they had reviewed more than 12 million documents for the government’s case, and expressed concern at the growing number of custodians whose documents were sought.

“The DOJ Plaintiffs’ proposal is unreasonable and not proportional to the needs of this case,” Google stated in the filing.

The cases under discussion are the federal government and one of the state lawsuits against Google. Those actions are two of the five antitrust lawsuits filed against Big Tech last year.

“The DOJ Plaintiffs’ proposal is unreasonable and not proportional to the needs of this case,” Google stated in the filing.

The cases under discussion are the federal government and one of the state lawsuits against Google. Those actions are two of the five antitrust lawsuits filed against Big Tech last year.

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