Google deletes ‘thousands’ of ‘Celebgate’ nude photos

Google has deleted “tens of thousands” of the nude images stolen from celebrities and published on the Internet, the ZDnet website reported Friday, just two days after the search giant was reportedly threatened with a lawsuit over what has come to be known as the “Celebgate” scandal.

“We’ve removed tens of thousands of pictures — within hours of the requests being made — and we have closed hundreds of accounts,” Google told ZDNet in a statement.

“The Internet is used for many good things. Stealing people’s private photos is not one of them,” the statement added.

Last month a cache of private photos belonging to a number of celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence and Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton was stolen and uploaded on popular sites such as 4chan and Reddit.

Martin Singer, an entertainment industry lawyer, said in a letter on Wednesday that Google “is making millions and profiting from the victimization of women” and could be liable for over $100 million in damages, the New York Post reported on Wednesday.

The letter did not say which celebrities Singer represents.

Singer said he sent Google multiple notices of violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which requires Internet service providers to remove copyrighted material upon request, the report said.

(With Reuters)