Court appoints firm partner to leadership role in TikTok privacy class action

July 14, 2020 — United States District Court judge Lucy H. Koh today appointed firm partner David Given to lead the prosecution of a wide-ranging data privacy class action against app maker TikTok and two of its related companies. In their amended complaint, filed May 11th, plaintiffs alleged a sustained effort to collect and transmit the private personally-identifiable data of U.S. citizens who use the TikTok app to corporate headquarters in China, where it is shared with the Chinese government. Six different lawyer groups vied for a leadership position in the case. David will serve on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee established by Judge Koh to run the case. The firm will focus on many of the technical issues arising from use of the app, including source code programming and app functionality. Approximately 15 different cases are currently pending in four different jurisdictions against TikTok for a variety of data privacy violations. The federal Judicial Panel for Multi-District Litigation will consider centralization of those cases at a hearing scheduled for July 30th.