Justice Department says Google destroyed evidence related to antitrust lawsuit

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department said Google destroyed written records needed for an antitrust lawsuit that focuses on how the company preserved its dominance in internet search.

The government asked a federal judge Thursday to sanction Google for its past practice of setting employee chats to auto-delete, despite the company having told the court it would preserve records required for litigation. Google employees routinely discussed “substantive and sensitive business” using an instant-messaging product that was set to delete chats after 24 hours, the Justice Department said.