Ephemeral Messaging And Permanent Consequences: How Google Was Sanctioned For Failure To Preserve Chat Communications

With the advent of "work from home" arrangements and the proliferation of instant messaging platforms, many companies have embraced instant messaging applications for their employee's communications. Instant messaging may be regarded as a more casual form of communication and companies may have shorter retention or no retention policies for these communications. However, as a recent case involving Google's internal instant messaging shows, the handling of corporate instant messaging data may lead to serious consequences in the complex litigation context.

In In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, Judge James Donato of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California recently awarded sanctions against Google based on lost chat data. No. 21-MD-02981-JD, 2023 WL 2673109, at *10 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 28, 2023). In this case, Google had a general policy of automatically deleting data within 24 hours from its internal instant messaging program,