Gauth AI class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Plaintiff Edward Lominchar filed a class action lawsuit against TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.
- Why: Lominchar alleges TikTok unlawfully transmitted private user data of its Gauth AI service to Google.
- Where: The Gauth AI class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
A new class action lawsuit alleges TikTok USDS Joint Venture unlawfully transmitted private communications, educational queries and personal data of users of its artificial intelligence homework-help service, Gauth, to Google without users’ knowledge or consent.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture is an independent, American-controlled corporate entity created to legally isolate and operate the TikTok platform within the United States.
Plaintiff Edward Lominchar filed the class action lawsuit on Aug. 31 in California federal court, alleging violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act, among other state laws.
According to the lawsuit, TikTok operates Gauth.com as a consumer-facing AI service that helps students with homework problems and other educational questions.
“Users — many of whom are children and adolescents — type or photograph their schoolwork into the platform and receive AI-generated explanations and answers in response,” the Gauth class action lawsuit says.
Lominchar claims that Gauth users provide sensitive educational information, including homework questions, personal essays and records of academic struggles.
He alleges that TikTok embedded Google Analytics within Gauth, which intercepted and transmitted this information to Google without users’ consent.
Lawsuit: TikTok did not disclose Gauth data sharing with Google
The Gauth class action lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s actions violated user privacy and exposed students to potential harm, including surveillance by school administrators and targeted advertising based on academic struggles.
Lominchar claims TikTok never informed users that their data was being shared with Google for advertising and analytics purposes, and that the data transmissions occurred every time a user submitted a question to the platform.
The lawsuit claims the tracking code covertly sends three types of data to Google in real time: the user’s actual academic questions submitted to the platform, a persistent Google Analytics identifier Google can allegedly tie back to a user’s Google account or education profile, and detailed behavioral metrics on how long and how deeply users engage with the platform.
The plaintiff seeks to represent anyone in the United States who used Gauth AI and had their data intercepted and transmitted to Google by the embedded Google Analytics tracking code.
Recently, TikTok agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleging the social media platform illegally collected personal information from children under 13.
Have you or a family member been affected by Gauth AI data sharing? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Victor J. Sandoval of Almeida Law Group LLC.
The Gauth class action lawsuit is Lominchar v. TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, Case No. 2:26-cv-09700, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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