Google is being threatened with a £60 million lawsuit by female celebrities for allegedly profiting from the biggest nude photo hacking scandal in history.
The search engine has been accused of failing to remove private images and “making millions from the victimisation of women”.
Images of stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Cara Delevingne and Kate Upton were stolen and posted online by hackers.
Hollywood lawyer Marty Singer, said to be representing 12 women whose privacy was invaded, has reportedly written to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as executive chairman Eric Schmidt, accusing them of “blatantly unethical behaviour”.
Mr Singer claims Google has failed “to act expeditiously and responsibly to remove the images, but in knowingly accommodating, facilitating, and perpetuating the unlawful conduct, Google is making millions and profiting from the victimisation of women,” according to a legal letter obtained by the New York Post.
He wrote that his law firm, Lavely & Singer, first sent notice to Google a month ago demanding the images be removed, but many remain on sites such as YouTube and BlogSpot.
“Google knows the images are hacked stolen property, private and confidential photos and videos unlawfully obtained and posted by pervert predators who are violating the victims’ privacy rights … Yet Google has taken little or no action to stop these outrageous violations,” he adds, according to the Post.
“Because the victims are celebrities with valuable publicity rights you do nothing — nothing but collect millions of dollars in advertising revenue … as you seek to capitalise on this scandal rather than quash it.”
The report did not name the women threatening legal action. As many as 100 may have been targeted.
Two topless pictures of Rihanna, up to 50 nude snaps of Johnny Depp’s fiancée Amber Heard, and photos of Vanessa Hudgens and Kate Bosworth were reportedly among those leaked online.
Google said it was aware of the letter, but is yet to formally respond to the claims.
