Judge OKs Parents’ Lawsuit Against Google for Kids Ad Tracking

A proposed class action accusing Alphabet Inc.'s Google of misleading parents about its protections against targeted ads for kids can move forward, a California federal judge has ruled.

Judge P. Casey Pitts for the US District Court for the Northern District of California shot down Google’s arguments that the plaintiffs’ claims were time-barred because one of the developers in question was removed from Google’s Play Store more than four years prior to the lawsuit.

“Plaintiffs’ complaint here, when construed liberally, pleads facts demonstrating a potential factual dispute by sufficiently alleging that defendants’ purportedly unlawful conduct continued within the relevant statute-of-limitations period,” Pitts wrote in a June 18 order. “Specifically, the complaint alleges that minors were tracked through various Android apps.”

Apps Google designated as friendly to children were in fact using Google’s AdMob advertising tools to track minors’ online data, a group of parents alleged in their June 2023 complaint. The parents, suing on behalf of their children, alleged that Google and Admob Inc. violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and other common law privacy protections

Pitts also rejected Google’s defense that any state law claims were preempted by federal claims under COPPA, citing a similar Ninth Circuit case. Pitts also upheld plaintiffs’ ability to plead violations of New York and Florida statutes as well as California privacy claims.

Plaintiffs are represented by Silver Golub & Teitell LLP and Lexington Law Group, LLP. Google and Admob are represented by Mayer Brown LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati.

The case is A.B. v. Google LLC, N.D. Cal., No. 23-cv-03101-PCP, motion denied 6/18/24.