United States: Privacy

The Southern District of California recently granted a motion to stay proceedings in a case involving CIPA violations related to website tracking pixels, pending the outcome of a California state appellate court decision.

California's legislature has passed SB 690, a bill that would eliminate private lawsuits under Section 638.51 of the California Invasion of Privacy Act for website tracking technologies like cookies and pixels. The legislation includes a retroactivity provision affecting pending claims filed within two years before its effective date, potentially reshaping the landscape of privacy litigation that has generated hundreds of lawsuits against businesses using common website analytics tools.

Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $17 billion over ten years to resolve multistate litigation alleging the company engineered Facebook and Instagram to addict minors while concealing the risks. Beyond the historic financial penalty, the settlement mandates sweeping platform changes including default usage limits, overnight lockouts, and parental controls for users under eighteen.