Survivors of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have filed a lawsuit against the US government and Google after victims’ identities were accidentally revealed in Justice Department documents published online, AFP reported on Thursday.
The Justice Department released over three million files in January connected to the investigation into Epstein, including his associations with high-profile figures. However, officials failed to anonymise the victims’ names, leaving them exposed.
The plaintiffs said the DOJ “outed approximately 100 survivors of the convicted sexual predator, publishing their private information and identifying them to the world.”
They added that even after the government acknowledged the violation and withdrew the information, online platforms like Google continue to republish the details, ignoring repeated requests from victims to remove them.
According to the court filing, Google still displays victims’ personal data in search results and AI-generated content. Journalists at the New York Times also discovered dozens of naked photos in the files showing victims’ faces.
Epstein, convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 before facing trial on sex trafficking charges.
The filing stated that survivors now face renewed trauma, with strangers contacting them, issuing threats, and wrongly accusing them of conspiring with Epstein, despite being his victims.
The lawsuit claims the government violated the Privacy Act of 1974. It also alleges that Google breached California laws on privacy invasion, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and unlawful business practices
