Google sued by Epstein survivors for refusing to remove AI Mode results exposing their identities
A woman who claimed to have been sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein filed a lawsuit against the US government and Google for failing to protect her and other victims’ identities. The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Justice unlawfully disclosed victims’ personally identifiable information and that Google’s AI tools actively weaponized that data by making it ‘persistently and globally accessible.’
What does the lawsuit allege?
The lawsuit alleges that the Justice Department released unredacted files between December 2025 and January 2026 that revealed the names, phone numbers, email addresses and photos of nearly 100 sexual assault survivors. It also states that the U.S. government violated the Privacy Act by failing to implement adequate review and remediation procedures.
In a complaint filed in Northern California federal court, attorneys for the woman who used the pseudonym Jane Doe said: “The United States deliberately prioritized the volume and pace of public disclosure over the safety and privacy of Epstein’s survivors, now embracing a release, later reversing its approach that made the unlawful disclosure of the victim’s personal identifying information “not only foreseeable but inevitable.”
The victim alleges that although the government eventually admitted its mistake and removed thousands of documents from the website, Google continued to republish the details and denied “the victim’s request to remove the document.”
What are the allegations against Google?
The victim alleges that Google, through AI Mode, continued to index and host information from the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice. The plaintiff alleges that Google’s AI Mode revealed full names, contact information, and cities of residence when prompted for searches related to Epstein.
“Survivors now face new trauma. Strangers call them, email them, threaten their physical safety, and accuse them of conspiring with Epstein, when in reality they are his victims,” the lawsuit says.
In the Jane Doe case, Google’s AI Mode allegedly generated a response confirming her relationship to Epstein and even provided a clickable hypertext link that allowed anyone to email the victim directly.
The lawsuit states that despite receiving notices to remove search results linking them to Epstein, “Google failed and refused to remove, de-index, or block access to the offending material.”
The plaintiff also stated that other artificial intelligence tools that generate content by synthesizing online information, such as ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, do not provide any information about the victim.
It states that Google’s actions made Epstein victims’ personal information “easily discoverable by anyone with internet access, perpetuating an invasion of privacy and leading to ongoing harassment, tracking, and reputational damage.”
