Several victims of the sexual criminal Jeffrey Epstein filed a complaint on Thursday against the U.S. government and Google after their identities were mistakenly revealed in documents posted online by the U.S. Department of Justice. This department uploaded over three million files in January related to the investigation into the fallen financier, including his ties to prominent personalities.
However, in these documents, the names of victims who were supposed to remain anonymous were published. “The Department of Justice ‘revealed the identities of approximately 100 victims of the convicted sexual predator, by publishing their private information and identifying them to the world,” the complaint filed in a San Francisco court states.
“A new trauma”
“Even after the government acknowledged that this disclosure violated the rights of the victims and removed the information, online actors like Google continue to republish it continuously, refusing the victims’ requests to remove them,” the plaintiffs lament. Google continues to display the victims’ personal information in search results and in content generated by AI, according to the complaint.
Journalists from the New York Times also found dozens of nude photos of individuals in these files, where their faces were visible.
“The victims are now facing a new trauma. Strangers are calling them, sending them emails, jeopardizing their physical safety, and accusing them of being complicit with Epstein when in reality, they were Epstein’s victims,” the complaint emphasizes.
