Rhode Island named lead plaintiff in suit over Google lapse

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island has been named the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Google’s parent company.

Treasurer Seth Magaziner said Tuesday a federal court in California approved his motion to make Rhode Island’s public employee retirement system the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.

The Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island and other investors allege in the suit Google acknowledged in October it found a privacy flaw affecting Google Plus users six months prior.

Magaziner says investors deserved to know when the flaw was discovered. He says Google concealed it to keep its stock price from falling.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google announced last month it’s accelerating plans to shut down the Plus service because the personal information of 52.5 million users had been exposed.