Judge says evidence against Google is ‘deeply troubling’ in Epic Games trial

The judge presiding over Google’s antitrust court battle with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games ripped the search giant over what he called a “deeply troubling” readiness to destroy evidence relevant to the case.

“I have never seen anything so egregious,” US District Judge James Donato said Friday after Google rested its defense and the jury filed out of his San Francisco courtroom, according to a report.

Donato said he saw “disturbing evidence” of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s failures to preserve internal chat evidence and instructions to employees to label documents “privileged and confidential,” Law360 reported.

The judge said Google’s “willful and intentional suppression of relevant evidence in this case is deeply troubling to me as an officer of the court.”

“This conduct is a frontal assault on the fair administration of justice. It undercuts due process. It calls into question just resolution of legal disputes. It is antithetical to our system,” Donato added, according to Law360.

On Friday, Google Play general manager Mrinalini Loew took the stand. Donato said her testimony “strongly underscored” that the company had intentionally deleted messages to cover its tracks, per Law360.

“I am going to get to the bottom of who is responsible for the suppressed evidence,” Donato said. “That is going to be separate and apart from anything that happens here, but that day is coming.”

Since the Google v. Epic jury trial kicked off on Nov. 6, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has been grilled over the company’s attempts to keep internal chat logs private.

Justice Department attorneys pressed Pichai to explain his handling of a now-infamous internal group chat from 2021, in which he asked a Google employee to “change the setting of this group to history off.”

Nine seconds later, Pichai attempted to delete the request — a move he’s downplayed on the witness stand in court, telling the judge that he relied on instruction from Alphabet’s general counsel, Kent Walker.

Walker was the one who first introduced the automatic deletion policy in 2008. Pichai rose to CEO in 2015.

Donato called Walker into the courtroom and accused him of “tap-dancing around” questions of why exactly he chose not to preserve each employee’s internal communications.

Following his pointed comments, Donato approved Epic’s request to include a note on the jury instructions detailing Google’s destruction of evidence that “may” have been relevant to the case.

The trial rehashes Epic’s claims in a 2020 lawsuit that argued Google’s Android app store, Google Play, constitutes an unlawful monopoly by relying on payments to game and app developers, known internally as “Project Hug,” as part of an effort to “bribe and block” potential competitors from launching their own app stores or otherwise challenging its empire.

Google has denied wrongdoing, asserting that the payments to developers were fair compensation in a competitive app market where rivals include fellow tech giants like Samsung and Apple.

Donato has encouraged Google and Epic to reach a settlement. The parties are set to meet to discuss this possibility before closing arguments on Dec. 11, according to Law360.

The Post has sought comment from Google. A representative for Epic Games declined to comment.

The Epic trial is the second major US antitrust trial facing Google, which is also locked in a heated battle with the US Justice Department over its alleged monopoly over the online search market.

The DOJ alleges Google each year pays billions of dollars — including a whopping $26.3 billion in 2021 alone — to partners like Apple and AT&T to ensure its search engine is the default for most devices and maintains a 90% market share.  

Additionally, Google is under federal scrutiny related to its digital advertising practices and its “Maps” business.