Hubbard v. Google LLC

District Court, N.D. California·Decided July 1, 2024·No. 5:19-cv-07016·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 NICHOLE HUBBARD, et al., Case No. 19-cv-07016-SVK

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING 9 v. MOTION TO DISMISS WITH LIMITED LEAVE TO AMEND 10 GOOGLE LLC, et al., Re: Dkt. No. 203 11 Defendants.

12 Defendants Google LLC and YouTube, LLC (collectively, “Google”) operate a video- 13 sharing website (also called “YouTube”) where users may post videos on their “channels” and 14 view videos posted by others free of charge. “Free products are not, however, truly free.” In re 15 Google, Inc. Priv. Pol’y Litig., 12-cv-01382-PSG, 2015 WL 4317479, at *2 (N.D. Cal. July 15, 16 2015). Google collects data from YouTube users, which it uses to generate advertising revenue 17 for both itself and those who own some of the more-popular channels. Plaintiffs—minor children 18 represented by their parents and legal guardians—commenced this putative class action against 19 Google and the owners of certain YouTube channels to remedy the harm they allegedly suffered 20 as a result of Google’s collection of their data. 21 Defendants now move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims. See Dkt. 203 (the “Motion”). 22 Plaintiffs oppose the Motion. See Dkt. 213 (the “Opposition”). Defendants filed a reply. See Dkt. 23 219. The Parties appeared for a hearing on the Motion before the Honorable Beth Labson 24 Freeman on February 22, 2024. See Dkt. 256-1 (“Hr’g Tr.”). Judge Freeman subsequently 25 recused herself from this action, and the Parties later consented to the jurisdiction of the 26 undersigned. See Dkts. 249, 259, 276. The Court then permitted the Parties to submit 27 supplemental briefing on the Motion. See Dkts. 262, 267-68. After considering the Parties’ 1 before Judge Freeman), and for the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS the Motion 2 and DISMISSES all of Plaintiffs’ claims WITH LIMITED LEAVE TO AMEND. 3 I. BACKGROUND 4 The following discussion of background facts is based on the allegations contained in the 5 fifth amended complaint (the “FAC” at Dkt. 275), the truth of which the Court accepts for 6 purposes of resolving the Motion.1 See Boquist v. Courtney, 32 F.4th 764, 772 (9th Cir. 2022). 7 A. Google’s Collection Of Plaintiffs’ Data 8 Google operates YouTube, a website where anyone can post and watch user-created videos 9 for free. See FAC ¶¶ 3, 66-68, 70. Although it does not charge for access to YouTube, Google 10 does leverage the website as a revenue source; it partners with advertisers and the owners of 11 popular YouTube channels to show advertising on certain videos, with Google and the channel 12 owners splitting the payments received from the advertisers. See id. ¶ 87. 13 How Google selects which advertisements to show varies at the election of each channel 14 owner. See id. ¶ 88. Some choose the “contextual” approach, under which Google presents 15 advertisements based on the “central theme” of the channel. See id. ¶ 85. For example, Google 16 may show a user watching a cooking channel an advertisement for kitchen supplies. The 17 “preferred” and “most lucrative” approach (both for Google and the channel owners), however, is 18 the “behavioral” approach. See id. ¶ 84. Under that approach, Google presents advertisements 19 based on the information it possesses about a user, which it passes through an algorithm in an 20 effort to “infer[] which types of advertisements [are] likely to have the greatest impact on the user 21 . . . (i.e., most likely to be clicked).” See id. ¶ 83. 22 But how does Google obtain information about YouTube’s users? Quite simply—it 23 collects it. When an individual visits a Google-affiliated website (such as YouTube), Google 24 1 Defendants’ Motion implicates the fourth amended complaint. Upon Plaintiffs’ request, the 25 Court permitted Plaintiffs to amend that pleading to add some Plaintiffs and remove others, and those amendments did not substantively change any of Plaintiffs’ allegations. See Dkt. 274 at 2-5. 26 Consequently, the Court determined that the newly filed FAC would not moot the Motion and that Defendants did not need to file a new motion to dismiss. See id. at 4-5. The Court nevertheless 27 permitted Defendants an opportunity to seek leave to file a new motion to dismiss for good cause; 1 “stores some unique identifiers in a text file” called “cookies.” See id. ¶¶ 71, 73. Cookies allow 2 Google to determine which “websites the user has previously visited, the duration of website 3 visits, videos viewed, advertisements viewed, duration of video views, and advertisements clicked, 4 among other information.” See id. ¶ 73. Google also collects users’ “persistent identifiers,” i.e., 5 data points that users may not “easily delete[] or reset” and that stick with them as they browse the 6 internet. See id. ¶¶ 74, 76. Examples include users’ IP addresses and International Mobile 7 Equipment Identity numbers.2 See id. ¶ 75. Together, cookies and persistent identifiers allow 8 Google to “track[] individuals over 80% of the internet.” See id. ¶ 76 (emphasis and citation 9 omitted). The information collected about them includes, inter alia, “searches run, videos 10 watched, views and interactions with content and ads, voice and audio information, purchase 11 activity, people with whom a user communicated, browsing history, [] activity on third-party sites 12 and apps that used Google services[,] . . . GPS, . . . device sensor data, [] data from devices located 13 near a user [and] . . . advertising ID.”3 See id. ¶ 72. 14 Enter Plaintiffs. During the relevant period (July 1, 2013 through April 1, 2020), they 15 were children under the age of 13 who watched YouTube videos. See id. ¶¶ 1, 208-327. Google 16 collected their data without their parents’ consent, and they now seek to recover for the harm they 17 allegedly suffered as a result of Google’s non-consensual collection of their data. See id. ¶ 1. 18 Specifically, they allege that they “can no longer realize the full economic value of their Personal 19 Information because their Personal Information has already been collected, analyzed, acted upon, 20 and monetized by Defendants.” See id. ¶ 175. In addition to Google, they also name as 21 Defendants the owners of some of the most-popular YouTube channels for children. See id. ¶¶ 22 122-57. 23 /// 24

25 2 “An IP address is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network, such as the internet. . . . Every mobile phone and smartphone is assigned a unique [International 26 Mobile Equipment Identity number] that cannot be changed.” FAC ¶ 75. 27 3 Plaintiffs do not explain what they mean by “voice and audio information,” “device sensor data” B. Google’s History Of Collecting Children’s Data 1 The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (the “COPPA”) “regulate[s] the online 2 collection of personal identifying information about children under the age of 13.” Jones v. 3 Google LLC, 73 F.4th 636, 639 (9th Cir. 2023); see also FAC ¶ 13. It does not contain a private 4 right of action; rather, only the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) and state attorneys general 5 may sue to enforce the statute. See Jones, 73 F.4th at 641. Pursuant to that enforcement authority, 6 the FTC and the New York Attorney General jointly commenced an action against Google in 2019 7 for alleged violations of the COPPA in connection with its collection of data of children who 8 watch YouTube videos. See FAC ¶ 16; FTC v. Google LLC, No. 19-cv-02642-BAH, Dkt. 1 9 (D.D.C. Sept. 4, 2019). The parties settled, with Google stipulating to an injunction prohibiting it 10 “from [d]isclosing, using, or benefitting from” the information collected. See FTC v. Google LLC, 11 No. 19-cv-02642-BAH, Dkt. 5 (D.D.C Sept. 10, 2019) (the “FTC Order”) at 12. 12 C. Relevant Procedural History 13 Judge Freeman dismissed two of Plaintiffs’ earlier complaints with leave to amend on the 14 basis that the COPPA preempted their claims. See Dkts. 117, 146.

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