W37Y23 Weekly Review: DPC v. TikTok, Chabon v. Meta, and California v. Google

+++TikTok Hit with $368 Million Fine by Irish Data Protection Commission
+++Meta Sued by Pulitzer Price Winner Over Llama-AI Training Data
+++California Attorney General Sues Google for $93 Million Over Location History Data

TikTok Hit with $368 Million Fine by Irish Data Protection Commission
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined TikTok €345 million ($368 million) for violating the GDPR in relation to children and underaged users. The DPC found that TikTok’s sign-up process and family pairing feature exposed children’s data to public and parental access. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) intervened and directed the DPC to amend its draft decision to include a new finding of infringement of the principle of fairness. TikTok disagreed with the decision and said it had made changes before the investigation. The Irish regulator is still investigating TikTok’s procedures around transferring European user data to China.

Read the full press release by the Irish Data Protection Commission.
Read the full report on Associated Press.
Read the decision in the matter of TikTok Technology Limited made pursuant to Section 111 of the Data Protection Act, 2018 and Articles 60 and 65 of the General Data Protection Regulation, DPC IN-21-9-1

Meta Sued by Pulitzer Price Winner Over Llama-AI Training Data
A group of writers, including Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon, has sued Meta Platforms, accusing the tech company of using their writings, including pirated versions, to train its Llama AI software. This lawsuit follows a similar case against OpenAI. Authors argue that their works are valuable for AI language training yet Meta has failed to seek permission or pay compensation.

Read the full report on reuters.
Read the case Michael Chabon et alia v. Meta Platforms Inc. et alia, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-04663.

California Attorney General Sues Google for $93 Million Over Location History Data
The California AG has sued Google for $93 million, accusing it of lying to users about how their location data was used and shared by third parties. The lawsuit also claims that Google violated the state’s laws on unfair competition and false advertising. The lawsuit says that Google misled users about their location data options, such as Location History, Web and app Activity, and ad personalization. The lawsuit also says that Google must pay $93 million to the state and agree to some new restrictions on its location services and deceptive communications.

Read the full report on techcrunch.
Read the case California v. Google, Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Santa Clara, No. 23CV422424.

More Headlines

• Copyright Law: “Trump asks court to trim ‘Electric Avenue’ copyright lawsuit’” (by Reuters)
• Copyright Law: “Japanese YouTuber convicted of copyright violation after uploading Let’s Play videos” (by The Verge)
• Copyright Law: “Four large US publishers sue ‘shadow library’ for alleged copyright infringement” (by Guardian)
• Antitrust Law: “In the Google antitrust trial, defaults are everything and nobody likes Bing” (by The Verge) 
• Data Privacy: “Dutch Groups Launch Major Privacy Lawsuit Against Google” (by Forbes) 
• Data Privacy: “Indiana AG Todd Rokita sues IU Health for disagreeing on patient privacy in Caitlin Bernard case” (by Indiana Capital Chronicle)
• Data Privacy: “The Technology Facebook and Google Didn’t Dare Release” (by New York Times)
• Data Privacy: “Clean data must be as much of a right as clean water” (by Financial Times) 
• Watch: “Senators host tech leaders for closed-door AI summit” (by MSNBC)

In Other News (or publications you should read)

• Richard Allen’s regulate.tech blog: How to regulate the internet without breaking it
• Benjamin Wittes, Robert Chesney, Jack Goldsmith’s lawfare: Hard national security choices 
• Julie Zerbo’s the fashion law (TFL)
• Justin Hendrix’ tech policy press: technology and democracy.
• Eugene Volokh: The Volokh Conspiracy

This post originated from my publication Codifying Chaos.