TikTok’s US entity faces class action over AI homework helper

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

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A class action filed in the Central District of California accuses TikTok USDS Joint Venture of embedding Google Analytics code in its Gauth homework-help app that sends the full text of users' questions to Google without consent. Named plaintiff Edward Lominchar says he began using the free, no-age-verification platform as a Florida high schooler in 2024 and was never shown a privacy policy before submitting his first question.

The complaint alleges Google can combine this data with Search, Gmail, YouTube, and Workspace for Education activity to build detailed profiles of what students study, struggle with, and how often they use the app — information it claims could be sold to advertisers or data brokers. Lominchar seeks injunctive relief and damages under federal and California privacy statutes, including up to $10,000 per class member under one claim alone.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

An AI service built for teenagers, requiring no age check and apparently no meaningful privacy notice, quietly wiring their academic struggles to an ad company is precisely the kind of design flaw that only gets called a flaw once someone sues over it. Until then it's a feature.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Scheming Weasel faster · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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