The intersection of antitrust enforcement and eDiscovery continues to evolve—and courts are laying down clearer expectations for data preservation.
At the Spring Meeting, government enforcers and outside counsel discussed two pivotal Google cases that underscored how not to handle chat retention. In one, Judge Mehta rebuked Google for its 24-hour deletion policy on employee messages, calling it “negligent.” In another, involving Epic Games, Google was found to have deliberately deleted chats to avoid discovery.
Key Standards and Warnings:
- Preservation must be centralized: Employees subject to legal holds should not self-manage data retention.
- Spoliation consequences are real: Improper chat retention cost Google a major antitrust ruling.
Modern Attachment Complexities: Today’s documents often live as hyperlinks to cloud-based versions. Courts are beginning to recognize the complexity of “linked” files. While broad discovery of every hyperlink may be unreasonable, a well-targeted, “reasonable request” standard is likely to guide future rulings.
Best Practice Example: A company under investigation should proactively audit retention policies on Slack, Teams, and Google Chat—and document a defensible policy for hyperlink collection. Otherwise, they risk the same judicial scolding Google received.
Why It Matters: eDiscovery is no longer a back-office issue. For companies under antitrust scrutiny, your approach to chat, linked files, and cloud storage could determine the outcome of litigation.
