Summary: Search engine giant Google has been threatened with a $100 million lawsuit by a group of actresses who had nude photos leaked online over the past couple of weeks.
Google is being threatened with a $100 million lawsuit, according to a report from The Daily Mail.
A large group of women whose email accounts were hacked and had their nude photos posted online are joining in the lawsuit.
They include Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and many others.
The lawyers representing the women claim that Google should have removed the images from the internet. Instead, the company ‘made millions from the victimization of women’.
A letter has been sent to the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, that accuses them of ‘blatantly unethical behavior.’ The letter was sent by Hollywood attorney Marty Singer.
‘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 capitalize on this scandal rather than quash it,’ the letter said.
The major breach came on September 20 when photos of Kate Bosworth, Vanessa Hudgens, Kardashian and Hope Solo were posted to the web. Actress Gabrielle Union was also victimized, saying she would speak with the FBI about the leak.
Union and her husband, Dwayne Wade, said the following in a statement to TMZ: “It has come to our attention that our private moments, that were shared and deleted solely between my husband and myself, have been leaked by some vultures. I can’t help but to be reminded that since the dawn of time women and children, specifically women of color, have been victimized, and the power over their own bodies taken from them. These atrocities against women and children continue worldwide. For anyone out there also being affected by these and other hacking and hate crimes – We send our love, support and prayers.”
Others victimized include Mary-Kate Olson, Avril Lavigne, Kaley Cuoco and Hayden Panettiere.
These photos were published online weeks after the publishing of nude photos depicting Jennifer Lawrence and Aubrey Plaza, Kate Upton and 100 others.
In a statement, the publicist for Lawrence said, “This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.”
Image credit: Google