CIPA TikTok Claims

Our readers are well aware of the proliferation of lawsuits alleging California Invasion of Privacy Act ("CIPA") violations against companies that use third-party tracking technology to collect consumer data on their websites. The latest iteration of these CIPA third-party tracking software lawsuits targets CIPA and TikTok.

Trap and Trace CIPA TikTok Claims

In Esparza v. Thinoptics, Inc., Plaintiff claims, on behalf of himself and a putative class of consumers, that Defendant violated CIPA by using TikTok "tracking pixels" on its consumer-facing website. These pixels, according to the Complaint, "link to data harvesting platforms that pick off usernames and passwords, credit card and banking information and details about users' personal health." Specifically, Plaintiff claims that the TikTok software captures consumer: (1) device and browser information; (2) geographic location data; and (3) referral and URL tracking. Plaintiff asserts that TikTok uses the