Google loses court fight over Jan. 6 pipe bomb warrant
- Source
- Bloomberg
- Time
- 8:14 PM
- Weight
- 94/100
Newly unsealed court records reveal that Google lost a secret legal battle against a U.S. government warrant related to the investigation into pipe bombs planted during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The Department of Justice issued the warrant in 2023, seeking the identities of hundreds of users who had used the search engine to look up the locations of the Democratic and Republican party headquarters in Washington, D.C., shortly before the explosives were discovered.
Google challenged the warrant, arguing that the demand was "grossly overbroad" and threatened the privacy of innocent individuals. The company contended that complying would subject users to government scrutiny based on politically oriented searches conducted during a highly divisive period.