Tag Archives: settles

Amazon Settles FTC Lawsuits for $2.5 Billion Over Prime “Subscription Trap”

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Amazon has consented to a $2.5 billion penalty and support for its Prime members to settle the case with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

According to the FTC, approximately $1.5 billion will be allocated to a fund for reimbursing qualifying subscribers, in addition to the billion-dollar civil fine.

The FTC, which oversees consumer protection in the United States, filed a lawsuit against Amazon in 2023 during the Biden administration, accusing the company of enrolling millions of customers in a subscription service without their consent and trapping them in a complicated cancellation process.

The case was heard in a federal court in Seattle earlier this week and is expected to continue for a month.

Andrew N. Ferguson, the Trump-appointed chair of the FTC, celebrated this as “a historic victory for countless Americans who are frustrated with deceptive subscription practices that are nearly impossible to cancel.”


“Evidence indicated that Amazon employed complex subscription tactics aimed at manipulating consumers into signing up for Prime, making it exceedingly difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions,” Ferguson stated. “Today, we are returning billions of dollars to Americans and ensuring that Amazon does not repeat these actions.”

As part of the settlement, Amazon is required to provide a “clear and prominent” option for customers to decline Prime subscriptions while shopping on the site, according to the FTC. The company has previously claimed that it has made improvements to its registration and cancellation processes, describing the FTC’s allegations as outdated.

“We are dedicated to ensuring our customers find it clear and straightforward to sign up or cancel significant memberships while providing valuable services to millions of loyal members globally,” stated the company.

Following the announcement, Amazon’s stock remained relatively stable in New York.

The company faces an additional case initiated by the FTC regarding its alleged maintenance of an illegal monopoly. This case is set to go to trial in 2027 and is presided over by the same judge as the Prime case.

This lawsuit is part of a broader legal action against a major U.S. tech corporation accused of abusing its market position to the detriment of smaller competitors. In subsequent legal maneuvers, Google was designated an illegal monopoly but avoided the government’s most severe penalty.

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AI Startup Humanity Settles Copyright Infringement Lawsuits for $1.5 Billion

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Humanity, an artificial intelligence firm, has agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement in response to a class action lawsuit filed by the author of a specific book, who alleges that the company used a pirated copy of their work to train chatbots.

If a judge approves the landmark settlement on Monday, it could signify a significant shift in the ongoing legal conflict between AI companies and writers, visual artists, and other creative professionals who are raising concerns about copyright violations.

The company plans to compensate the author approximately $3,000 for each of the estimated 500,000 books involved in the settlement.

“This could be the largest copyright restoration we’ve seen,” stated Justin Nelson, the author’s attorney. “This marks a first in the era of AI.”


Authors Andrea Burtz, Charles Greber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, who were litigated against last year, now represent a wider group of writers and publishers whose works were utilized to train the AI chatbot Claude.

In June, a federal judge issued a complex ruling stating that training AI chatbots on copyrighted books is not illegal. Unfortunately, Humanity acquired millions of books from copyright-infringing sources inadvertently.

Experts predict that if Humanity hadn’t settled, they would likely have lost the lawsuit as it was set to go to trial in December.

“We’re eager to see how this unfolds in the future,” commented William Long, a legal analyst at Wolters Kluwer.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco is scheduled to hear the terms of the settlement on Monday.

Why are books important to AI?

Books are crucial as they provide the critical data sources—essentially billions of words—needed to develop the large language models that power chatbots like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Judge Alsup’s ruling revealed that Anthropic had downloaded over 7 million digitized books, many of which are believed to be pirated. The initial download included nearly 200,000 titles from an online library named Books3, created by researchers other than OpenAI to build a vast collection utilized for training ChatGPT.

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Burtz’s debut thriller, The Lost Night, served as the lead plaintiff in this case and was also part of the Books3 dataset.

The ruling revealed that at least 5 million copies had been ingested from around 2 million instances found on Pirate websites like Library Genesis.

The Author Guild informed its thousands of members last month that it anticipated losses of at least $750 per work, which could potentially be much higher. A sizeable settlement award of about $3,000 per work could indicate a reduced pool of impacted titles after taking duplicates and non-copyrighted works into account.

On Friday, Author Guild CEO Mary Raysenberger stated that the settlement represents “a tremendous victory for authors, publishers, and rights holders, sending a strong message to the AI industry about the dangers of using pirated works to train AI at the expense of those who can’t afford it.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Pinterest Settles Christine Martinez Lawsuit for $34.7 Million

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Pinterest has agreed to a $34.7 million settlement regarding a lawsuit from an early advisor who claims to have helped co-create the platform without receiving compensation.

Christine Martinez, aged 44 and a friend of Pinterest co-founders Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, initiated legal action against the company in 2021. The lawsuit alleged implicit contracts, idea theft, unfair competition, and violations of business practices. Martinez asserted that she contributed numerous ideas for the app, such as the concept of organizing images on a “board,” yet received no payment for her efforts.

Pinterest, renowned for its virtual pinboarding and a significant female user base, announced the settlement with Martinez in its November 2024 Financial Application.

“No one wishes to engage in litigation. I’m incredibly relieved and excited about this outcome,” Martinez stated in a recent interview.

According to a statement included in the settlement, “Mr. Martinez contributed valuable marketing and community growth strategies during Pinterest’s early development.” Both parties expressed satisfaction in amicably resolving this longstanding issue.

Pinterest chose not to comment further.

This settlement comes amidst a pattern of complaints and legal actions brought against Pinterest by female employees and executives.

In 2020, Pinterest settled a gender discrimination lawsuit with former Chief Operating Officer Françoise Brougher for $22.5 million. Additionally, over 200 employees signed a petition that year advocating for policy changes following allegations of racial bias, sexism, and retaliation against the company.

Silbermann, who served as CEO of Pinterest, stepped down from his position in 2022.

Martinez, who possesses expertise in e-commerce and interior design, claimed that Silbermann and Sciarra sought her guidance prior to Pinterest’s official launch in 2010.

She alleged that she originated the idea for photo boards and coined the prevalent “Pin IT” phrase, which helped prominent design and lifestyle bloggers utilize the platform for promotion. According to her lawsuit, elements of the programming code on Pinterest were named in her honor.

While she never entered into a formal contract with Pinterest, it was understood that she would eventually be compensated. Pinterest went public in 2019 and boasts a market capitalization exceeding $18 billion.

Martinez currently serves as a board member and strategic advisor for Gingo, an AI-based online shopping platform designed for women.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Google settles $28 million lawsuit for allegedly favoring white and Asian employees

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Google has agreed to pay $28 million (£22 million) to settle class action lawsuits by compensating white and Asian employees more and providing them with a higher career track compared to other employees.

The settlement with Alphabet’s Google was preliminarily approved by Judge Charles Adams of Santa Clara County Superior Court in California last week.

Judge Adams described it as “a positive outcome for the class” consisting of at least 6,632 Google employees in California from February 15, 2018 to December 31, 2024.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the settlement, stating, “We refute the allegations of differential treatment and are committed to compensating, hiring, and promoting all our employees fairly.”

The lawsuit was spearheaded by Ana Cantu, who identifies as Mexican and indigenous, on behalf of minority employees at Google from Hispanic, Latino, Indigenous, Native American, and other backgrounds.

Cantu claimed that despite performing exemplary work in Google’s People’s Business and Cloud sector for seven years, she was not compensated or promoted on par with her white and Asian counterparts.

She alleged that Google favored white and Asian employees, placing them in higher “levels” within the company even when performing similar roles as minority employees.

Cantu argued that Google’s actions violated California’s Equal Pay Act, and she left the company in September 2021.

The final settlement amount will be $20 million after deducting legal costs, penalties related to Cantu’s claims under California’s General Civil Attorneys Act, and other expenses totaling $7 million.

Judge Adams has scheduled a hearing in September to review and approve the final settlement. Cantu’s legal representatives have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Apple settles lawsuit by paying $95 million over claims Siri listened to private conversations

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Apple has agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant, Siri, violated users’ privacy and listened to them without their consent.

iPhone owners complained that Apple routinely recorded private conversations after users unintentionally activated Siri and made those conversations available to third parties, including advertisers. The preliminary settlement was filed Tuesday night in federal court in Oakland, California, and must be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White.

Voice assistants typically respond when you use a “hotword” such as “Hey, Siri.” The two plaintiffs said references to Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants prompted advertisements for those products. One person said he received an advertisement for a well-known surgical treatment after a personal discussion with his doctor. The plaintiffs argued that Apple did not receive consent before recording their conversations and, in fact, could not have obtained consent because one of the plaintiffs was a minor and did not have an Apple account at the time of the recording.

The complaint alleges that the violations continued from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024. The violation allegedly began with the addition of a “Hey, Siri” function to Siri, which led to unauthorized recordings. Estimated tens of millions of class participants can receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, such as an iPhone or Apple Watch.

Apple denied any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement. The company has consistently emphasized the importance of privacy. In 2018, Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized other technology companies for their surveillance, saying: ‘[t]His desire to prioritize profit over privacy is nothing new.” The company further countered in a letter to Congress. 2018 Apple’s iPhone devices do not “listen” to you, other than detecting the audio trigger “Hey Siri.”

But in a 2019 Guardian report cited in the original complaint, an Apple whistleblower revealed that contractors regularly listen to users’ private conversations when performing quality assurance on Siri. He said that he had done so. These conversations included confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex. Some of these conversations were recorded by mistake, the whistleblower said, because Siri can mistake things like the “zip sound” as a wake word.

At the time, Apple said that only a “small percentage” of Siri requests are evaluated for quality, and those requests are not tied to a user’s Apple ID. “Siri responses are analyzed in a secure facility, and all reviewers are obligated to comply with Apple’s requests.” Strict confidentiality requirements. “The company then paused A quality improvement program has been installed to stop audio recording by default.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a similar request. They could seek $1.1 million in fees and costs, up to $28.5 million in a settlement fund.

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For Apple, whose net income was $93.74 billion in its most recent fiscal year, $95 million is equivalent to about nine hours of profit.

A similar lawsuit on behalf of users of Google’s voice assistant is pending in federal court in San Jose, California, which is in the same district as the Oakland court. The plaintiffs are represented by the same law firm that worked on the Apple case.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Bankrupt Crypto Firm TerraForm Labs Settles with US for $4.47 Billion

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TerraForm Labs has agreed to a $4.47 billion civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They were found liable by a jury for misleading cryptocurrency investors who suffered losses of an estimated $40 billion when their TerraUSD and Luna tokens crashed in 2022, causing a widespread downturn in the cryptocurrency industry.

A final sentence against Terraform and its founder Do Kwon was filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. The sentence is still pending approval from U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over the trial that concluded on April 5.

TerraForm’s judgment includes $4.05 billion in disgorgement and interest, as well as a civil penalty of $420 million. Due to TerraForm’s bankruptcy filing in January, it is unlikely that most of this amount will be paid and will be treated as an unsecured claim in the ongoing Chapter 11 liquidation process.

The total judgment amounts to $4.55 billion, which includes an $80 million civil penalty against Kwon. Kwon is also required to agree to a ban from cryptocurrency transactions and transfer $204.3 million to TerraForm’s bankruptcy estate.

The SEC stated in a court filing that, “If entered, this judgment would ensure maximum recovery for harmed investors and permanently shut down TerraForm. Accordingly, the proposed judgment is fair, reasonable, and in the public interest.”

Both Terraform and Kwon have agreed to the sentence. No immediate comments were provided by the men’s lawyers. Kwon was previously found guilty of fraud in an early April civil lawsuit filed in Manhattan.

The SEC alleged that TerraForm and Kwon misled investors regarding the stability of TerraUSD, which was meant to maintain a constant value of $1. They were also accused of falsely claiming that TerraForm’s blockchain was utilized in a popular mobile payment application in South Korea.

Luna, a more traditional token created by Kwon and closely linked to TerraUSD, plummeted in May 2022 when TerraUSD failed to uphold its peg to the dollar.

Kwon has been detained in Montenegro since March 2023, with the United States and South Korea seeking his extradition for criminal prosecution, although he has not yet appeared in court. Kwon maintains his innocence.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Google settles lawsuit by deleting billions of private browsing records

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Google has agreed to destroy billions of records to settle a lawsuit alleging that it secretly tracked the internet usage of people who appeared to be browsing privately in incognito mode on its Chrome browser.

Users claim Google’s analytics, cookies and apps allow Alphabet’s division to improperly track people who set Google’s Chrome browser to “incognito” mode and other browsers to “private” browsing mode.


They say this will allow Google to learn about their friends, favorite foods, hobbies, shopping habits, and “the most intimate and potentially embarrassing things” they search for online, making it “a treasure trove of unexplainable information.”

The terms of the settlement were filed Monday in federal court in Oakland, California, and must be approved by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. The class action lawsuit began in 2020 and targets millions of Google users who used private browsing after June 1, 2016.

Under the settlement, Google will update its disclosures about what it collects during “private” browsing, a process that has already begun. Also, a secret user will be able to block third-party cookies for her five years.

“As a result, Google will collect less data from users’ private browsing sessions, and Google will derive less profit from that data,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs valued the deal at more than $5 billion, with a maximum of $7.8 billion. Users will not receive damages, but may sue individually for damages. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google supports final approval of the settlement, but disagrees with the plaintiffs’ “legal and factual findings,” according to court documents.

“There are limits to how strongly you can market the Secret Service,” Lorraine Twohill, Google’s chief marketing officer, wrote in a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai in 2019. is not truly private, requires very vague and risk-averse language, and is likely to be more damaging.”

David Boies, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the settlement is “an historic step in demanding honesty and accountability from powerful technology companies.”

A tentative settlement was reached in December, and a trial was scheduled for February 5, 2024. Terms were not disclosed at the time. Plaintiffs’ lawyers will now ask Google to pay unspecified legal costs.

The company has faced similar lawsuits before. In 2022, the Texas attorney general sued the company, alleging that “Incognito mode, or ‘private browsing,’ is a web browser feature that indicates to consumers that Google does not track their search history or location information.”.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Owner of Pornhub settles sex trafficking investigation with US government for $1.8 million

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Paid by Pornhub’s parent company Aylo Holdings $1.8 million to the US government To resolve charges of profiting from sex trafficking. The company, formerly known as MindGeek, will enter into a deferred prosecution agreement, which means a monitor will be appointed to monitor Aylo and its compliance efforts for three years.

Aylo-owned Pornhub and other adult content sites have come under fire for failing to control third-party uploads of adult content. In the worst-case scenario, sex trafficking victims may end up appearing in these adult girlfriend videos against their will or without their knowledge.

This particular investigation by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York focuses on a network called GirlsDoPorn (GDP), which has been posting videos to Pornhub and other Airo websites since 2009. By 2019, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of California had issued an indictment. GDP and other charges related to sex trafficking. But Mr. Airo’s own court papers filed this week show that he profited from the contents of GDP. In a press release, authorities said they were “not aware” that Airo hosted videos in which many women had no idea they were being filmed or that these videos would be shared with the public. or should have known,” he said in a press release. The release also states that many of these women filed complaints with Airo between 2016 and 2019 and that the videos were posted without their consent. However, the network’s videos were removed from Pornhub and other sites months after GDP was convicted of sex trafficking.

“This resolution would not only monitor the world’s largest online content distribution companies and ensure their lawful conduct, but also establish industry-wide standards for safety and compliance,” U.S. Attorney Brion Pierce said in a statement. I will do it,” he said.

2020, Pornhub introduced A number of new features have been added, including preventing video downloads and requiring users to authenticate before posting videos.platform too hired a law firmKaplan Hecker & Fink LLP will conduct an independent review of the company’s content compliance.

The newly renamed Aylo had a turbulent few years. MindGeek’s CEO and COO both left the company before the company was sold to a brand new private equity firm, strategically named Ethical Capital Partners.

Earlier this week, Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos were added to the list of platforms subject to the most stringent regulations under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The law requires platforms to comply with certain child protection regulations, among other safeguards. Once the EU code of conduct on age-appropriate design is finalized, it could mean these platforms will have to carry out strict age checks. This means users must verify their age and identity through official means (instead of simply checking a box indicating they are an adult).

Already in the US, many states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia and Utah, require adult websites to perform age verification checks before allowing users access.

When either of these measures first went into effect in Louisiana, Pornhub required visitors to verify their age. LA wallet app, a digital wallet for Louisiana driver’s licenses. However, when these laws were expanded to other states, Pornhub chose to completely block access in those locations.

“Since [adding age verification]traffic in Louisiana decreased by approximately 80%,” Pornhub wrote in the article. statement. “Those guys didn’t stop looking for porn. It just transitioned into place.”

privacy advocate People are speaking out against these measures because of the potential consequences of sharing government IDs to use the internet. Although these measures are intended to protect children, they have the unintended effect of compromising their online anonymity. Additionally, it is not at all uncommon for hackers to break into government databases, and if these verification tools are not secure, data about who is accessing what kind of content on the internet can easily fall into the wrong hands. There is a possibility that the

This puts MPs in a difficult position. It is difficult to promote internet regulation and safety without creating a slew of new problems.

Source: techcrunch.com

Activision Blizzard settles California workplace discrimination lawsuit for $54 million

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California Department of Civil Rights settlement Activision released a joint statement with Blizzard late last week, two years after state regulators filed a lawsuit alleging sex discrimination, pay inequality and a culture of sexual harassment at the video game company.

Activision Blizzard, publisher of hit games such as the “Call of Duty” series and “World of Warcraft,” has agreed to pay $54 million and take steps to ensure fair pay and fair promotion. I promised. Approximately $46 million of the funding will be used to compensate employees, particularly women who were employees or contractors of the company from 2015 to 2020. Details of the settlement have been finalized but still require court approval.

“If approved by the court, this settlement agreement would be a significant step forward and provide direct relief to Activision Blizzard employees,” said California Department of Civil Rights Director Kevin Kish. The agency was previously known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, but changed its name last year. Activision Blizzard operates from its headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

The agency filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2021, alleging the company violated rules set forth in the state’s Equal Pay Act and Fair Employment and Housing Act. The California Department of Civil Rights announced it was dropping the allegations as part of the settlement. agreement “Allegations of systematic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard have not been substantiated by a court or independent investigation.”

The settlement also says an investigation by the California Department of Civil Rights found no evidence of wrongdoing by the company’s board, executives or CEO Bobby Kotick.

Activision Blizzard was cited in February for failing to “put in place the necessary controls to collect and review employee complaints of workplace misconduct,” ultimately preventing that information from being disclosed to investors. agreed to a $35 million settlement with the SEC.

The California lawsuit includes employee strikes, inflammatory statements from executives, stock price volatility, and ongoing concerns that the company fosters a toxic workplace culture to the detriment of employees. It ushered in a dramatic era for Activision Blizzard.

A series of events ultimately led to Microsoft’s move to acquire the company. Regulators finalized the $68.7 billion deal in October. Activision Blizzard’s longtime CEO Bobby Kotick has become deeply embroiled in years of controversy and plans to leave the company at the end of the year.

Source: techcrunch.com