On September 30, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 690, the product of a multi-year push to curb abusive litigation under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). As previously reported, SB 690 cleared the Senate and Assembly on August 28. The law eliminates the private right of action for alleged violations of Cal.
On July 20, 2026, another California federal court denied class certification in a putative privacy class action involving a company’s cookie-based advertising platform. Lewis v. Magnite, Inc., 2:25-cv-03448-MWC-SSC (C.D. Cal. July 20, 2026). The plaintiffs alleged that Magnite secretly installed tracking cookies—called “khaos IDs”—on users’ browsers to collect data for targeted advertising. The claims
In recent years, a handful of pro se plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ firms have sent tens of thousands of demand letters to businesses, threatening class action lawsuits under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) unless those businesses pay settlements averaging $10,000 to $25,000.
The demands typically assert claims under CIPA arising from businesses’ alleged use
Wiretapping class actions based on websites’ use of common tracking technologies continue to rise. And because many courts have allowed these cases to survive motions to dismiss, businesses often feel pressure to settle early—even when they have strong defenses.
Much of that pressure comes from the threat of a class wide judgment reaching eight or
A recent decision from the Northern District of California reminds corporate defendants in Internet tracking cases that strategies to defeat class certification based on individualized issues can be just as critical as merit-based defenses.
In In re Meta Pixel Tax Filing Cases, No. 22-cv-07557-PCP (N.D. Cal. Mar. 30, 2026), a group of plaintiffs sought
Over the last few years, businesses, nonprofits, and other website operators have seen thousands of lawsuits and arbitrations filed under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) alleging that the use of ubiquitous cookies and pixels on websites violates CIPA’s wiretap and pen register provisions. The California legislature considered curbing that explosion of litigation with