Washington: Survivors of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have filed a lawsuit against the US government and Google after victims’ identities were inadvertently disclosed in a massive batch of documents released online by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The DOJ published more than three million files in January tied to the probe into the disgraced financier and his connections to prominent individuals. However, an oversight left victim names — intended to be anonymized — fully unredacted, sparking outrage and chaos among officials, AFP reported.
“The DOJ ‘outed approximately 100 survivors of the convicted sexual predator, publishing their private information and identifying them to the world,'” the plaintiffs stated in their complaint.
Even after the government conceded the error infringed on survivors’ rights and pulled the files, the damage persisted online. “Even after the government acknowledged the disclosure violated the rights of the survivors and withdrew the information, online entities like Google continuously republish it, refusing victim’s pleas to take it down,” the suit alleges.
The lawsuit highlights how Google persists in surfacing victims’ personal details through search results and AI-generated outputs, ignoring urgent removal requests. Separately, New York Times journalists uncovered dozens of naked photos in the files bearing identifiable faces, amplifying the privacy nightmare.
Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 before facing federal sex trafficking charges.
“Survivors now face renewed trauma. Strangers call them, email them, threaten their physical safety, and accuse them of conspiring with Epstein when they are, in reality, Epstein’s victims,” according to the case filing.
Plaintiffs argue the US government breached the Privacy Act of 1974 by exposing sensitive data without authorization. Against Google, they invoke California statutes on invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and unfair business practices.
