Judge keeps majority of TikTok data scraping class action intact

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Update:

• TikTok will have to face a data scraping class action lawsuit after much of its motion to dismiss claims the company installed software on third-party sites to collect data from non-TikTok users was denied.
• U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. did dismiss two claims in the lawsuit related to damages to the plaintiff due to lack of standing.
• Blumenfeld ruled the plaintiff did not show there were $5,000 in aggregate damages related to TikTok violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).
• The California judge also ruled plaintiff Bernadine Griffith did not show real economic loss from TikTok’s actions collecting data from her visits to websites such as Hulu, Etsy and Build-a-Bear and said her claims of economic injury were “purely hypothetical.”

TikTok data class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Bernadine Griffith filed a class action lawsuit against TikTok Inc. and ByteDance Inc. 
• Why: Griffith claims TikTok and its owner, ByteDance, unlawfully intercept, collect and save highly personal data belonging to non-TikTok users who visit a third-party website with the TikTok software development kit installed. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court. 

(June 1, 2023)

TikTok and its owner, ByteDance, intercept, collect and save highly personal data belonging to non-TikTok users when they visit a third-party website with the TikTok Software Development Kit (SDK) installed, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Bernadine Griffith claims TikTok is not authorized to intercept, collect and save the data of non-TikTok users yet does so “even where non-TikTok users employed privacy settings that are meant to block third-party tracking of their web activity.” 

“This conduct is Defendants’ latest salvo in their ongoing campaign to illicitly harvest an enormous amount of private data on U.S. residents,” the TikTok class action states. 

Griffith wants to represent a nationwide class and California subclass of non-TikTok users who visited a website with the TikTok SDK software installed and a nationwide class and California subclass of non-TikTok users who visited a website with the TikTok SDK software installed while having privacy settings tuned to block third-party cookies. 

TikTok a ‘clear and present danger to personal privacy,’ class action says

Griffith argues TikTok is “infamous” for “invasive and non-consensual harvesting of private user information” while citing a $92 million class action settlement the company paid to end claims revolving around illicitly made face geometry scans and data privacy. 

“It is no exaggeration to say that Defendants and their TikTok app are a clear and present danger to personal privacy,” the TikTok class action states. 

Griffith claims TikTok and ByteDance are guilty of intrusion upon seclusion, invasion of privacy under the California Constitution and violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, among other things. 

She demands a jury trial and requests declaratory and injunctive relief along with an award of punitive, actual and treble damages for herself and all class members. 

In related news, TikTok recently filed a lawsuit against Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law banning the operation of the platform in the state. TikTok argues the ban is unconstitutional. 

Have you visited a website with a TikTok SDK installed? Let us know in the comments. 

The plaintiff is represented by Ekwan E. Rhow, Marc E. Masters and Christopher J. Lee of Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks, Lincenberg & Rhow PC; Jonathan M. Rotter, Kara M. Wolke and Gregory B. Linkh of Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP; and Kalpana Srinivasan, Steven Sklaver and Michael Gervais of Susman Godfrey LLP. 

The TikTok data class action lawsuit is Griffith, et al. v. TikTok Inc., et al., Case No. 5:23-cv-00964, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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