A federal judge wants to investigate Google over deleted internal chats

If you dream of running a major tech giant, that's no problem, but remember you'll be a regular at the courthouse. That being said, it's time to talk about Google's latest encounter with the law.

Federal Judge James Donato plans to take an in-depth look at Google and the company could face investigation over the deletion of its chat history (via Android titles). This follows Google's recent legal adventures over allegations of monopoly in the search market and the ongoing dispute with Epic (here the companies are fighting over the question of competition in the Play Store).

In both lawsuits, testimony revealed that Google employees — you can also count CEO Sundar Pichai — voluntarily enabled an “auto-delete” option for internal discussions. It was suggested that the aim was to keep the information as evidence out of a courtroom.

Judge Donato calls Google's act of destroying evidence “a frontal attack on the fair administration of justice” and that it “undermines due process” and says he plans to pursue the case in outside the bounds of the particular lawsuit against Epic.

“I’m going to get to the bottom of this to find out who’s responsible,” Donato said, referring to Google’s actions.

Currently, Judge Donato is trying to bring Google and Epic to the table to discuss “potential settlements” – something neither company has tried to do so far. Judge Donato's orders mean that Google and Epic will have to talk to each other and try to find something close to an agreement.

A decision on this case is expected to be made by December 11, exactly one week from now.