When Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai appeared on Capitol Hill in 2018, as part of a congressional inquisition of tech leaders, it was easy to poke fun at the spectacle. Lawmakers had clearly planned to knock Silicon Valley elites down a few pegs, but they lacked the vocabulary to land the big Perry Mason moment. And so we got comical episodes like when Rep. Ted Poe held up his phone and said, “If I move from here and go over there… does Google know that I moved to the left?” Pichai tried to explain that it depends on settings and apps opened, which caused the frustrated Texas Republican to blurt out, “It’s not a trick question!” Other times, Pichai was able to effectively parry the questions with feel-good bromides: “It’s really important to us for average consumers to understand [the information collected by Google]. We remind users to do a privacy checkup. And we make it obvious.”

Video footage of Pichai’s congressional testimony may play differently if ever shown to a jury. That could happen in a case that centers on how Google collects and uses data from those who have turned on the private “Incognito” mode on the company’s Chrome web browser. The plaintiffs estimate billions of dollars in damages from the interception of private browsing information that includes sexual interests and political views, and thanks to a judge’s recent order sanctioning Google for discovery misconduct, the tech giant may find it more difficult to defeat the suit. In fact, because of this rather extraordinary sanctioning, should the case get to trial, the jury could hear about Google’s efforts to hide key witnesses and evidence.