In a significant win for Royal Caribbean Cruises, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that alleged the cruise line’s website violated a California privacy law by using a TikTok tracking tool. The case, Kishnani v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, challenged the cruise operator’s use of the tool under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA)
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TikTok’s Motion to Dismiss Denied by NY State Court
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
New York Attorney General Letitia James and 13 other Attorneys General filed suit in October 2024 against TikTok “for misleading the public about the safety of its platform and harming young people’s mental health.” TikTok moved to dismiss the case and, on May 28, 2025, New York Supreme Court Judge Anar Rathod Patel denied the…
Three States Ban DeepSeek Use on State Devices and Networks
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Artificial Intelligence
New York, Texas, and Virginia are the first states to ban DeepSeek, the Chinese-owned generative artificial intelligence (AI) application, on state-owned devices and networks.
Texas was first to tackle the problem when it banned state employees from using both DeepSeek and RedNote on January 31, 2025. The Texas ban includes other apps affiliated with the…
DeepSeek AI’s Security Woes + Impersonations: What You Need to Know
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
Soon after the Chinese generative artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek emerged to compete with ChatGPT and Gemini, it was forced offline when “large-scale malicious attacks” targeted its servers. Speculation points to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
Security researchers reported that DeepSeek “left one of its databases exposed on the internet, which could have allowed malicious…
After Supreme Court Upholds Ban, Trump Issues EO Giving TikTok an Extension
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
Despite bipartisan support for banning TikTok – essentially spyware presenting a national security threat from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – in the United States (as done by India) and the Supreme Court’s upholding of the law as constitutional and requiring the app to go dark, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) during…
Privacy Tip #427 – Ahead of the TikTok Ban, Users are Turning to Another Chinese App with Similar Privacy Concerns – What you Should Know
By Kathryn Rattigan & Daniel Lass on
Posted in Privacy Tips
TikTok users are seeking alternate platforms to share and view content as the U.S. is set to ban the popular social media app on January 19, 2025. Instead of turning to U.S.-based companies like Facebook or Instagram, users are flocking to another Chinese app called Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. The app, which previously…
Supreme Court to Hear TikTok Case
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
The United States Supreme Court announced on December 18, 2024, that it will hear the TikTok ban case and has scheduled oral arguments for January 10, 2025, before the ban’s January 19, 2025 effective date.
The case stems from a bipartisan law signed by President Biden that required ByteDance, the Chinese-based parent of the app…
Increased Privacy Enforcement Actions Anticipated Under Texas Privacy Law
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Data Privacy
While California was the first state to implement a comprehensive consumer privacy rights law and the first to bring an enforcement action for violations, Texas is quickly becoming the next privacy regulator to watch. The Texas Privacy and Data Security Act (TPDSA) became effective in July 2024, and the Texas Securing Children Online through Parental…
TikTok’s Legal Woes from State AGs Continues
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
Last week, we outlined the lawsuits against TikTok by New York, California, and North Carolina, that followed in the footsteps of Nebraska, Nevada (which filed suit against TikTok in February of 2024), and Indiana, which filed suit against TikTok in 2022. Since last week, at least 11 more states have joined the fray, including…
Senators Demand Documentation from TikTok
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Data Privacy
On October 11, 2024, following the filing of a lawsuit against TikTok by the Kentucky Attorney General, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who authored the bipartisan “Kids Online Safety Act,” requested that TikTok CEO Shou Chew provide all “documents, communications, and research held by TikTok regarding the safety of minors on…