Google Takes Down Celeb Nude Leaks Following Lawsuit Threat

Google says it has deleted “tens of thousands” of naked pictures of celebrities that had been stolen and published online.

The statement comes after a group of Hollywood entertainment lawyers threatened to sue the web giant for “violating privacy.” The lawyers, acting on behalf of female celebrities whose images were hacked and posted online even though exact names were not disclosed, threatened to address Google’s “failure to remove the pictures.”

According to them, Google was “making millions and profiting from the victimization of women” by allowing the pictures to be displayed on a host of Google-owned services, including video-sharing site YouTube and blogging platform BlogSpot. The LA-based team threatened to sue Google for $100 million.

However, in their response, Google insisted it responds to privacy breach requests “within hours,” and confirmed it had already closed “hundreds of accounts.”