Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

December 19, 2025
FTC, Instacart File Proposed Order Agreeing For Instacart To Pay $60M In Fee Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — The Federal Trade Commission and Maplebear Inc. d/b/a Instacart on Dec. 18 filed a joint motion in California federal court for entry of a stipulated order regarding an agreement in which Instacart pays $60 million to the FTC to resolve allegations that it misrepresented free delivery of items purchased online through the Instacart Marketplace, falsely advertised a satisfaction guarantee and implemented paid memberships without consumers’ “express informed consent.”
December 19, 2025
Settlement Of Capital One Affiliate Marketing Class Suit Gets Preliminary Approval

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge on Dec. 18 granted preliminary approval to a settlement on behalf of a nationwide class that accused Capital One Financial Corp. of violating consumer protection laws including California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a browser extension to misappropriate online influencers’ commissions from affiliate marketing links, with Capital One denying wrongdoing and the plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking nearly $4 million in fees.
December 19, 2025
Parents Of Deceased Teens Sue Meta, Instagram, Alleging Sextortion Led To Deaths

WILMINGTON, Del. — Parents of two teens whose deaths were purportedly related to sextortion on the social media platform Instagram filed a wrongful death suit against Instagram LLC and its owner, Meta Platforms Inc., in Delaware state court, asserting that their teenage sons died after Meta “provided unfettered access” to “predators” on Instagram pretending to be young girls who enticed their sons into sending “compromising pictures” and then threatened to send those pictures to friends and family if the teens did not pay with money or gift cards.
December 19, 2025
Parties Settle In Suit Alleging Uber Breached Duty Of Care To Murdered Driver

SEATTLE — A rideshare company and the estate and survivors of one of its drivers have reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought as a result of the driver’s murder during a carjacking attempt perpetrated by two people who had signed up for the company’s services with false personal information and a prepaid phone and gift card minutes before being matched with the driver.
December 17, 2025
Judge Enjoins Louisiana From Enforcing Minors’ Social Media Law Against Meta

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge granted summary judgment to trade association NetChoice and enjoined enforcement of a state law designed to restrict minors’ access to social media platforms in NetChoice’s suit against the Louisiana attorney general and a related public official seeking to stop the law’s enforcement, finding that the law fails strict scrutiny.
December 16, 2025
Class Certification Motion Granted With Modification In Google Ad Antitrust Row

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted with modification publisher plaintiffs’ motion for certification of a subclass in advertisers’, publishers’ and related entities’ Sherman Act violation multidistrict litigation alleging that Google monopolized markets for ad servers, finding that the publishers have shown “that their claims are typical of the class.”
December 15, 2025
Class Preliminarily Certified In Live Nation, Ticketmaster Monopolization Suit

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on Dec. 12 preliminarily certified a class of consumers who accuse Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC, two companies that are now merged, of engaging in anticompetitive practices.
December 15, 2025
Judge Issues $13K Sanction Against OnlyFans Plaintiffs’ Counsel For AI Usage

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Dec. 12 ordered plaintiffs’ attorneys to pay $13,000 for filing “AI-tainted” briefs in the court and denied their motion to withdraw and amend those briefs and in separate orders refused to reconsider the enforceability of OnlyFans’ forum selection clause and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against OnlyFans’ owners and content creators’ agencies for deceptively marketing “chats” to subscribers.
December 15, 2025
DoorDash, Uber Sue New York City, Alleging Tipping Law Constitutional Violations

NEW YORK — DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. on Dec. 12 filed a complaint in New York federal court against the city of New York, alleging violations of the U.S. Constitution and the New York Constitution related to the city’s tipping law requiring them and other companies’ third-party food and grocery delivery platforms to solicit tips of 10% for delivery workers before delivery is complete.
December 12, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Contempt Finding In Apple Antitrust Dispute With Epic Games

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 11 affirmed in part a lower court’s ruling finding Apple in contempt of a court-ordered injunction to enjoin Apple Inc. from certain anticompetitive practices on its App Store but reversed in part civil contempt sanctions regarding restrictions on Apple’s ability to impose any commissions on purchases outside an app in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc., finding that the lower court did not err in finding Apple in contempt.
December 12, 2025
Judge Says Digital ‘Robux’ Are ‘Thing Of Value’ Under California Gambling Laws

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge said “old gambling provisions” need to be “clean[ed] up” but nonetheless found that they apply to “Robux,” the digital in-game currency used in the game Roblox, in an order denying a Robux-gambling website creator’s motion to dismiss claims brought against him by the parents on behalf of children “who gambled away their Robux on RBLXWild.”
December 11, 2025
Federal Circuit Rejects Arguments From IBM, Zillow In Dueling IPR Appeals

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a dispute over a patent held by the International Business Machines Corp. related to single-sign-on (SSO) technology with Zillow Group Inc. and a related entity, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Panel affirmed U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) findings that some claims in the patent were invalid while others were not, rejecting arguments from both parties.
December 10, 2025
Developer Of ICE Tracking App Sues Bondi Over ‘Pressured’ Removal From App Store

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The developer of the ICEBlock app and a related entity sued U.S. Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi and other Trump administration officials, alleging violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding the government’s “pressure campaign” that resulted in Apple Inc. removing the ICEBlock app from its App Store.
December 09, 2025
11th Circuit Dismisses Appeal Of Judgment For FTC In Deceptive Websites Dispute

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 8 dismissed an appeal of summary judgment and sanctions for violating a prior injunction by officers of a company operating websites that provided assistance with obtaining services such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and sold consumers’ data to third parties, finding in part that the appellate court lacked jurisdiction because the appeal was not timely.
December 09, 2025
Attorney’s Remedies Are Sufficient To Avoid AI Misuse Sanctions, Judge Says

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon declined to impose sanctions for misuse of artificial intelligence in a trademark case after an attorney took responsibility for hallucinated cites and the plaintiff and its attorneys waived associated attorney fees and said they would undertake efforts to educate about the proper uses of the technology in the legal profession.
December 09, 2025
NetChoice Challenge To Maryland’s Online Safety Act Allowed To Proceed

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge denied the Maryland attorney general’s motion to dismiss an eight-count amended complaint filed by an internet trade association representing Amazon, Google and others whose “mission is to promote online commerce and speech,” holding that the association plausibly alleges that a Maryland online safety law burdens protected editorial activity, reaches expressive conduct subject to First Amendment scrutiny and conflicts with federal law.
December 08, 2025
COMMENTARY: D&O Liability & Coverage: 2025 Trends, Developments & Decisions

By Scott M. Seaman and Pedro E. Hernandez
December 08, 2025
Federal Circuit: Judge Wrong To Toss Meta Patent Row Without Claim Construction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 5 opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a Texas federal judge’s dismissal of an advertising technology company’s patent infringement suit against Meta Platforms Inc., finding that the dismissal hinged on a premature resolution of a disputed claim construction in Meta’s favor and a failure to credit the plaintiff-appellant’s factual allegations.
December 08, 2025
Judge Issues Judgment Outlining Injunctions In Antitrust Suits Against Google

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In consolidated suits in which a District of Columbia federal judge determined that Google LLC violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, the judge on Dec. 5 issued an opinion and final judgment outlining prohibitory injunctions, including requiring Google not to condition the licensing of Google Play on the distribution or license “of any Google GenAI [emerging generative artificial intelligence] Product on any device sold in the United States.”
December 08, 2025
Hawaii Sues ByteDance, TikTok Over Role In Minors’ ‘Social Media Addiction’

HONOLULU — The state of Hawaii filed suit in Hawaii state court against ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries, ByteDance Inc., TikTok Inc. and TikTok Ltd. (collectively, TikTok), the operators of the TikTok social media platform, “for falsely marketing and promoting—to children and their families—an addictive and otherwise harmful social media platform.”
December 05, 2025
John R. Cash Trust Sues Coca-Cola Over ‘Infringing Ad’ In NCAA Marketing Campaign

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The John R. Cash Revocable Trust sued The Coca-Cola Co. in a Tennessee federal court, alleging violation of state laws and the Lanham Act over Coca-Cola’s “Infringing Ad” allegedly using a singing voice that is “identifiable and attributable to Johnny Cash” without permission in a 2025 NCAA college football advertising campaign on television networks and across social media platforms.
December 04, 2025
Judge Certifies Alexa Voice ID Biometric Data Class Suit, Excludes Named Plaintiff

CHICAGO — A named plaintiff who signed up for Amazon.com Inc.’s Voice ID program after the filing of a suit would be subject to unique defenses that render him unfit to be a class representative, a federal judge in Illinois said while certifying claims that the company violated Illinois law by collecting certain biometric data through its Alexa artificial intelligence system.
December 03, 2025
U.K. Plaintiffs’ Restitution Claim For ‘Honey’ Discount Losses Dismissed

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed with leave to amend a putative class action filed by citizens of the United Kingdom against two companies that own and operate the “Honey” discount-finding browser extension, finding that the plaintiffs’ claim for monetary restitution under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) is actually a claim for damages and, therefore, not recoverable.
December 03, 2025
Revised Opinion Issued Finding No Monopoly In FTC Rival Buying Suit Against Meta

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Dec. 2 issued a revised opinion with “minimal redactions” after issuing an earlier redacted opinion entering judgment in favor of Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) regarding allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that Meta monopolized the personal social networking (PSN) market by buying rivals WhatsApp and Instagram, finding that the FTC failed to show that Meta has monopoly power in the relevant market.