![]() Appropriate steps to retain relevant documents includes turning off automatic deletion and may even include stopping use of certain applications altogether. Companies that allow or provide applications with ephemeral messaging capabilities must continue to retain all relevant documents during government investigations and enforcement actions. The revised language makes crystal clear that both ephemeral and non-ephemeral communications through messaging applications are documents. The Bureau of Competition and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division have reviewed and revised the language we use in preservation letters, second requests, voluntary access letters, and compulsory legal processto expressly state what has always been the case: that documents created using collaboration tools and messaging applications are included in those requests. While documents created using these applications are and have always been covered by preservation letters, second requests, voluntary access letters, and compulsory legal process from the Commission, companies have sometimes failed to abide by their document preservation obligations for these methods of communication. Specifically, many of these applications and programs allow, and sometimes automatically enable, destruction of communications and documents-sometimes known as ephemeral messaging. While these applications represent new ways in which businesses collaborate, they are still company documents bound by the same preservation obligations that have always applied during government investigations and enforcement actions. In many of today’s companies, hard-copy documents and emails have been replaced by programs like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Signal, and Google Chats. The responsibility to preserve documents exists across all types of media.Īs workplaces have evolved, so too have the means by which workers communicate and collaborate. It should come as no surprise that companies and individuals that knowingly possess documents and information that may be relevant to an antitrust investigation must maintain that information under federal law and Commission rules. About the FTC Show/hide About the FTC menu items.News and Events Show/hide News and Events menu items.Advice and Guidance Show/hide Advice and Guidance menu items.Competition and Consumer Protection Guidance Documents. ![]() Enforcement Show/hide Enforcement menu items.
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