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☆ Native teens are nearly 4 times as likely to commit suicide. Tribes suing Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat say social media addiction fuels the problem.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewTwo tribes are suing social media giants, accusing them of contributing to the high suicide rates among Native teenagers by purposely getting kids hooked on their platforms. The lawsuits name Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and their parent companies, including Meta and Google as defendants. In collaboration with youth, mental health, and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences and parents with robust controls. Other lawsuits have been brought over social media addiction, including by dozens of state attorneys general who sued Meta last year. However, these are the first lawsuits over social media addiction brought by federally recognized tribes, according to Robins Kaplan, the firm that filed the suits.

Persons: —, Lonna Jackson, Gena Kakkak, José Castaneda, Snapchat, Robins Kaplan, Tim Purdon, Meta Organizations: Service, Superior Court, Facebook, YouTube, Meta, Google, Business, Street, Spirit, Center for Native American, Tribal Nations, American Indian Law, Policy, New, Inc, Associated Press Locations: Los Angeles, Lake, North Dakota, Menominee, Wisconsin, Country, Spirit Lake, New York City

☆ Google to delete billions of browser records to settle ‘Incognito’ lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Google will delete billions of data records as part of a settlement for a lawsuit that accused the tech giant of improperly tracking the web-browsing habits of users who thought they were browsing the internet privately. As part of the settlement, Google must delete “billions of data records” that reflect the private browsing activities of users in the class action suit, according to court documents filed Monday in San Francisco federal court. Google will also update its disclosure to inform users about what data it collects each time a user initiates a private browsing session. For the next five years, Google will also let private browsing users block third-party cookies as part of the settlement. “Moreover, the settlement requires Google to delete and remediate, in unprecedented scope and scale, the data it improperly collected in the past,” Boies added.

Persons: David Boies, ” Boies, José, ” “, Castañeda, “ Organizations: CNN, Google Locations: San Francisco federal

☆ Google will delete billions of browsing records to settle privacy lawsuit: court filing
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewGoogle will destroy users' browsing data to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit about its "incognito" browsing, according to federal court filings. The 2020 class action lawsuit accused the search engine of collecting millions of users' data without their knowledge while they used incognito mode. Now, Google has agreed to delete billions of data records that are older than nine months, the filing states. Previously, Google had used third-party cookies to collect users' data even when they were on non-Google sites. Related storiesGoogle had known for years that the marketing and branding of its incognito mode was potentially misleading, the lawsuit alleged.

Persons: —, José Castañeda, Lorraine Twohill, Sundar Pichai, David Boies Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Wall Street, Wall Street Journal Locations: California

☆ Judge rules YouTube, Facebook and Reddit must face lawsuits claiming they helped radicalize a mass shooter
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Melissa Alonso | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

“The Court has determined the complaint sufficiently pleads viable causes of action to go forward at this stage of the litigation,” said Erie County Supreme Court Justice Paula Feroleto. Attorneys for the social media companies named in the lawsuit filed a motion to dismiss saying the companies are akin to message boards containing third-party content, court documents show. “However, plaintiffs contend the defendants’ platforms are more than just message boards,” the court document says. “It is far too early to rule as a matter of law that the actions, or inaction, of the social media/internet defendants through their platforms require dismissal,” said the judge. In a statement to CNN, Reddit said, “Hate and violence have no place on Reddit.

Persons: ”, Paula Feroleto, Payton Gendron, “, Gendron, José Castañeda, Reddit, Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: CNN, 4chan, Meta, YouTube Locations: York, Buffalo , New York, Erie County, Reddit

☆ A Google engineer ran a secret startup in China while stealing AI technology, DOJ alleges
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Google employee was accused by the DOJ of stealing confidential AI technology. The DOJ also said he ran a Chinese-based startup while employed as a software engineer at Google. AdvertisementA Google employee indicted by the US Department of Justice has been accused of stealing confidential AI technology while secretly working for tech companies in China. The indictment said Ding, who lived in Newark and was a Chinese national, joined Google as a software engineer in 2019. In May 2022, Ding started secretly uploading confidential information from Google to his private Google Cloud account, the indictment alleged.

Persons: Linwei Ding, —, Leon Ding, Ding, Castañeda, Merrick Garland Organizations: DOJ, Google, Service, US Department of Justice, Authorities, Business, Prosecutors, FBI, supercomputing Locations: China, Newark , California, Newark, Chinese

☆ Google employee charged with stealing AI trade secrets
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A Google employee was charged Tuesday with stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the tech giant while secretly working with two Chinese-based companies in the AI industry. Linwei Ding, who also goes by Leon Ding, is charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. As part of his responsibilities at Google, prosecutors say, Ding helped to develop the software deployed in Google’s supercomputing data centers. Ding was a junior employee, Google spokesperson José Castañeda told CNN, and the company monitors file transfers to cloud storage platforms including Google Drive and Dropbox. “We have strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets,” Castañeda said.

Persons: Linwei Ding, Leon Ding, “, General Merrick Garland, ” Ding, Ding, ”, José Castañeda, ” Castañeda Organizations: CNN, Google, supercomputing, Justice Department, FBI Locations: America, California, China, United States

New York City, its schools and public hospital system announced a lawsuit Wednesday against the tech giants that run Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, blaming their “addictive and dangerous” social media platforms for fueling a childhood mental health crisis that is disrupting learning and draining resources. The city spends more than $100 million on youth mental health programs and services each year, Mayor Eric Adams' office said. “Over the past decade, we have seen just how addictive and overwhelming the online world can be, exposing our children to a non-stop stream of harmful content and fueling our national youth mental health crisis,” Adams said. "The allegations in this complaint are simply not true,” said José Castañeda, a spokesman for YouTube parent Google, who said by email that the company has collaborated with youth, mental health and parenting experts. Virtually all U.S. teenagers use social media, and roughly one in six teens describe their use of YouTube and TikTok as “almost constant,” according to the Pew Research Center.

Persons: Eric Adams, ” Adams, ”, José Castañeda, “ TikTok, ’, We’ve, “ Organizations: Facebook, YouTube, of Education, New York, New York City Health, Hospitals Corp, Google, Pew Research Center, Meta, Inc Locations: York City, Court, California, New York, New York City

☆ Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok must face teen addiction claims, federal judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Major social media companies must face allegations that their services addicted teen users and caused other mental health harms after a federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion to dismiss the bellwether lawsuit filed by a wave of consumer plaintiffs. The ruling paves the way for hundreds of plaintiffs to continue their case against the tech companies, and could indirectly lift the prospects for a bevy of similar suits filed by dozens of state attorneys general last month against Meta. “Protecting kids across our platforms has always been core to our work,” José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson, said in a statement. Gonzalez Rogers said Tuesday that Section 230 does shield the tech platforms from claims that try to hold the companies accountable as publishers of other users’ speech. For example, she said, the companies will not have to face claims they violated the law by implementing infinite news feeds or by using algorithms to increase user engagement.

Persons: Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Gonzalez Rogers, TikTok didn’t, ” José, ” Lexi Hazam, Previn Warren, Chris Seeger Organizations: CNN, Google, Communications, Meta, YouTube

☆ Emails reveal how Amazon and Google tap friends in government to influence policies. Critics say there's too much 'coziness' with Big Tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

When you work as a Big Tech lobbyist, there's a good chance you're already friends with someone in government. In 2022, 82.4% of Amazon lobbyists and 81.3% of Alphabet lobbyists previously held government jobs, according to data from OpenSecrets. "Big Tech uses its special revolving door access to furtively push for rigged trade policies," Warren wrote. The emails are limited to correspondence with Amazon and Google lobbyists and do not include communications with representatives of other tech companies. Big Tech critics say this access to policymakers is not granted to the public or civil-society groups, and that's why Warren and others have called for more transparency.

Persons: there's, Sen, Elizabeth Warren, Katherine Tai —, Warren, Tai, Andrea Boron, Mary Thornton, Karan Bhatia, Google's, Byun, Jillian DeLuna, Thornton, Bhatia, Kate Kalutkiewicz, USTR, Maria Langholz, Trump, Biden, Amazon's Thornton, Ethan Holmes, Joe Biden, Jonathan Ernst, That's, José Castañeda Organizations: Big Tech, United States Trade Representative, Google, Amazon, Amazon Web Services, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Canada's, Demand, Prosperity, Reuters Locations: Big, Asia, China, Bali, Tokyo

☆ Family sues Google, saying it's responsible for a man's death after Maps told him to drive over a bridge that collapsed 9 years ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The family of a man who died driving over a collapsed bridge is suing Google for negligence. His family's lawyers said Google Maps directed him to drive along the doomed route. "Unfamiliar with local roads, he relied on Google Maps, expecting it would safely direct him home to his wife and daughters," he wrote. Jon Hopson, Paxson's friend, told local outlet the Hickory Daily Record that there were no nearby signs indicating that the bridge had collapsed. In a statement sent to Insider, Google spokesperson José Castañeda said: "We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family.

Persons: Philip Paxson, it's, John Paxson, Bob Zimmerman, unsuspectingly, Nobody, Alicia Paxson, Jon Hopson, Paxson's, Alicia, José Castañeda, Paxson Organizations: Google, Service, Daily, Charlotte Observer, Associated Press Locations: Wall, Silicon, North Carolina, Hickory, Charlotte, Nowhere, Snow

☆ Google fails to end $5 billion consumer privacy lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. The Oakland, California-based judge also pointed to several Google statements, including in its privacy policy, suggesting limits on information it might collect. "As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity during your session." The lawsuit covers Google users since June 1, 2016. The case is Brown et al v Google LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Monday, David Boies, George Orwell, Rogers, Jose Castaneda, Brown, Jonathan Stempel, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Google, Chelsea, REUTERS, Court, Northern District of, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, , California, Oakland , California, California, Northern District, Northern District of California, New York

July 24 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) violated a software developer's patent rights with its remote-streaming technology and must pay $338.7 million in damages, a federal jury in Waco, Texas decided on Friday. The jury found that Google's Chromecast and other devices infringe patents owned by Touchstream Technologies related to streaming videos from one screen to another, a court representative said on Monday. According to the complaint, Google met with Touchstream about its technology in December 2011 but said it was not interested two months later. Touchstream said that Google's Chromecast copied its innovations and infringed three of its patents. It also said its patents were infringed by Google's Home and Nest smart speakers and third-party televisions and speakers with Chromecast capabilities.

Persons: Jose Castaneda, Touchstream, David Strober, Blake Brittain, David Bario, Grant McCool Organizations: Google, Touchstream Technologies, New, Google's, Comcast, Thomson Locations: Waco , Texas, New York, Altice, Texas, Washington

Genius, formerly known as Rap Genius, maintains a vast database of song lyrics. "We license lyrics on Google Search from third parties, and we do not crawl or scrape websites to source lyrics," Castaneda added. The Genius lawsuit stated that one of the first Google posts it suspected as copying involved the lyrics for the song "Panda" by the rapper Desiigner. "I got broads in Atlanta," part of the song's lyrics read. Genius said in its appeal to the Supreme Court that the 2nd Circuit's ruling would give "behemoths like Google" a free pass to "vacuum up content and increase their internet dominance."

Persons: Alphabet's, Genius, Jose Castaneda, " Castaneda, Hittin, bando, Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez, Alessia Cara, Joe Biden's, Blake Brittain, Will Dunham Organizations: WASHINGTON, U.S, Supreme, Alphabet's Google, Google, eBay, Genius, The, Circuit, Thomson Locations: New York, Atlanta, The New York, Washington

SummarySummary CompaniesCompanies Law Firms Google Play Music infringed Personal Audio playlist patents, jury saysVerdict follows California win for Sonos in Google audio patent fightJune 21(Reuters) - Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) must pay patent holding company Personal Audio LLC $15.1 million for infringing two patents related to audio software, a Delaware federal jury said in a verdict made public on Wednesday. Personal Audio had argued that Google's music app Google Play Music featured playlist downloading, navigation and editing features that violated its patent rights. Attorneys for Personal Audio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Beaumont, Texas-based Personal Audio had requested $33.1 million in damages, according to a May court filing. The case is Personal Audio LLC v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No.

Persons: Jose Castaneda, Steve Hanle, Doug Hahn, Salil, Stradling Yocca Carlson, Melissa Baily, Jeff Nardinelli, David Perlson, Antonio Sistos, Patrick Stafford, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan Read, Blake Brittain Organizations: Sonos, Google, San, Google LLC, District of, Rauth, Thomson, & $ Locations: California, Delaware, Beaumont , Texas, Texas, The Delaware, San Francisco, District of Delaware, Salil Bali, Washington

☆ Lawsuit alleges that social media companies promoted White supremacist propaganda that led to radicalization of Buffalo mass shooter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Zenebou Sylla Artemis Moshtaghian | Zenebou Sylla | Artemis Moshtaghian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

New York CNN —A wrongful death lawsuit filed against several social media companies Friday alleges that social media lent to the radicalization of the gunman who shot and killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, last May. “However, the social media platforms that radicalized him, and the companies that armed him, must still be held accountable for their actions. Speaking to CNN Sunday, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown commended some of the victims’ families and survivors for tackling extremism on social media platforms. We deliberately designed Snapchat differently than traditional social media platforms and don’t allow unvetted content to go viral or be algorithmically promoted. The lawsuit alleges that social media platforms “Meta, Alphabet, Reddit and 4chan earned advertising revenue from hosting and amplifying” Gendron’s video on their platforms.

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) - Google, a unit of Alphabet (GOOGL.O), has agreed to pay $8 million to settle claims it used deceptive advertisements to promote the Pixel 4 smartphone, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday. In this instance, Paxton's office alleged that Google hired radio announcers to give testimonials about the Pixel 4 even though the company had refused to allow them to use one of the phones. "If Google is going to advertise in Texas, their statements better be true," Paxton said in a statement. "In this case, the company made statements that were blatantly false, and our settlement holds Google accountable for lying to Texans for financial gain." Google said in a statement that it takes compliance with advertising laws seriously.

Sonos alleges Google infringed two of its patents related to multi-room wireless audio. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the case relates to "some very specific features that are not commonly used," and that Sonos "mischaracterized our partnership and technology." Sonos first sued Google for patent infringement in Los Angeles and at the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2020, accusing the tech giant of copying its technology during their collaboration. Sonos won a limited import ban on some Google devices from the ITC last year, which Google has appealed. Google has countered with its own patent lawsuits in California and at the ITC.

CompaniesCompanies Law Firms Google Inc FollowAlphabet Inc Follow(Reuters) - Alphabet's Google LLC won a jury trial on Tuesday in a long-running patent lawsuit in Delaware federal court over features in Google's smartphones and apps. The jury decided that Luxembourg-based patent owner Arendi SARL's patent was invalid and that Google did not infringe it, according to the verdict made public on Wednesday. Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the company was pleased with the decision and appreciated the jury's "careful attention to the extensive evidence presented in this case." Norwegian inventor Atle Hedloy's Arendi sued Google in 2013 over the patent, which relates to retrieving information like names and addresses from a database and entering it into word processors and spreadsheets. It asked the court for $45.5 million in damages, according to a spokesperson for Google's law firm Paul Hastings.

April 18 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google LLC (GOOGL.O) on Tuesday convinced a U.S. appeals court to cancel three anti-malware patents at the heart of a Texas jury's $20 million infringement verdict against the company. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that Alfonso Cioffi and Allen Rozman's patents were invalid because they contained inventions that were not included in an earlier version of the patent. But the Federal Circuit said Tuesday that all of the patents were invalid. The appeals court said the new patents outlined technology specific to web browsers that the first patent did not mention. The case is Cioffi v. Google LLC, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No.

Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement the company appreciated the decision to invalidate one of Sonos' patents and that Sonos "misrepresented our partnership and mischaracterized our technology." Sonos accused Google in the San Francisco case of infringing four patents related to multi-room wireless speaker technology. Alsup found Thursday that a second Sonos patent was also invalid, but rejected Google's request to cancel the remaining two patents before trial. The judge also said Google did not infringe one of the surviving patents willfully, reducing Sonos' potential damages. Alsup also said he would hold a separate bench trial after the jury trial to determine whether Google's redesigned speakers infringe Sonos' patents.

☆ Why Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is suing social media companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The lawsuit, which was filed in California federal court, said “the need is great” to continue to fund mental health outpatient programs, mobile crisis units, family-based mental health services, and in-school mental health programming and training to address the mental health of young people. Bucks County is joining a small but growing number of of school districts and families who have filed lawsuits against social media companies for their alleged impact on teen mental health. Some families have also filed wrongful death lawsuits against tech platforms, alleging their children’s social media addiction contributed to their suicides. Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, believes it will be “difficult” for counties and school districts to win lawsuits against social media companies. “There will be the issues of showing that the social media content was the cause of the harm that befell the children,” he said.

Apple, Google, Cisco, Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Edwards Lifesciences Corp (EW.N) sued the PTO in the California federal court in 2020 over the rule. They argued it undermined the role inter partes review plays in "protecting a strong patent system" and violated federal law. Companies including Tesla, Honda, Comcast and Dell filed briefs at the Federal Circuit in support of the plaintiffs. The California court dismissed the case in 2021, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings that Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions on whether to review inter partes review petitions cannot be appealed. The case is Apple Inc v. Vidal, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No.

☆ FEC dismisses RNC complaint that Google’s spam filters were biased against conservatives
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington CNN —The Federal Election Commission has tossed out claims by the Republican National Committee that Google’s spam filters in Gmail are illegally biased against conservatives, according to an agency letter obtained by CNN. In its letter, the FEC cited Google’s public statements claiming that its reasons for spam filtering include blocking malware, phishing attacks and scams. The study by North Carolina State University researchers had involved an experiment testing the spam filters of Gmail, Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo! Meanwhile, a separate RNC lawsuit against Google over the same Gmail filtering issue is still ongoing. And Google has continued with an FEC-approved pilot project that allows political campaigns to bypass Gmail’s spam filters.

☆ 40 states settle Google location-tracking charges for $392M
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Location tracking can help tech companies sell digital ads to marketers looking to connect with consumers within their vicinity. Even a small amount of location data can reveal a person’s identity and routines, they said. Google uses the location information to target consumers with ads by its customers, the state officials said. The attorneys general said Google misled users about its location tracking practices since at least 2014, violating state consumer protection laws. As part of the settlement, Google also agreed to make those practices more transparent to users.

☆ Google agrees to $392 million settlement with 40 states over location tracking practices
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN Business —Google has agreed to a record $391.5 million settlement with 40 states for allegedly misleading consumers over its location tracking practices, a coalition of attorneys general announced Monday. The attorneys general described it as the largest multi-state privacy settlement in US history. The coalition, which included attorneys general from New York, Kentucky and Oregon, claimed Google had been misleading users about locating tracking in various ways since 2014. Location data like the kind collected by Google can be used to target advertising and build profiles on internet users. Google and other large tech companies have come under renewed scrutiny for their handling of location data in the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

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