GME3: iGO Hot Streak Continues, Google Denied PIPEDA Pass, and Trouble Abuzz in the Beehive State

Google Denied PIPEDA Pass

Once again a Canadian court has rejected Google’s claim for exemption from the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). 

The case originated in 2017 when an anonymous man complained to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) over the Google search results for his name. He claims that the most prominent search results revealed information that was inaccurate, outdated, and even sensitive. He alleges that, as a result, he has suffered direct harm, including physical assault, lost employment opportunities and severe social stigma. 

Google refused to take down the links, suggesting that he ask the websites that created the content to delete the information. Google also said the OPC has no jurisdiction because PIPEDA didn’t apply to it. 

The first argument that Google made for why PIPEDA shouldn’t apply had two main points:

• The search side of the company isn’t a commercial enterprise, 

• Search results are used for journalism, and PIPEDA’s obligations don’t apply to journalistic endeavours.

In 2021, Judge Jocelyne Gagné dismissed these arguments: “Google promotes its advertising business by highlighting the popularity of its search engine…” Despite the free services that Google provides to both content providers and the userbase, “it has a flagrant commercial interest in connecting these two players.” As such, Judge Gagné concluded that Google is indeed a commercial entity, not a news publisher.

Google elevated the case to the Federal Court of Appeals where the court ruled 2-1 to uphold the 2021 decision. Google still has the option to appeal to the Supreme Court.

However, since PIPEDA does not guarantee the “right to be forgotten”, even losing this case will not mean that Google has to remove the links involved in the initial complaint. Instead, it will go back to the OPC, which has the power to recommend that Google do so, but no way to enforce it other than securing a Federal Court order.

Entertainment

Trouble Abuzz in the Beehive State

TikTok is in trouble once again, this time in the US. The state of Utah (also known as the “Beehive State”) launched a lawsuit against TikTok earlier this week, on the grounds that it purposefully uses technology to “keep children engaged with material that is often harmful.”

Specifically, Utah has accused the app of using algorithms to target children with violent, distressing content to keep them looking at the app. This is despite the known mental health issues that arise in correlation with the amount of time spent on social media (according to a U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory published earlier this year). Some features named in the complaint include the infinite scroll, and “filter bubbles” which feed a user more extreme variations of the types of videos that they engaged with the most.

Furthermore, the state alleges that TikTok:

• fails to verify user ages, 

• does not remove all child abuse, sexual material, or clips dealing with self-harm and eating disorders, 

• fails to adequately address negative mental health effects associated with teens’ use of social media, 

• does not adequately screen out child predators, 

• fails to rein in dangerous video challenges involving asphyxiation and bone-breaking, among other things.

TikTok has rejected these allegations, stating that “TikTok has industry-leading safeguards for young people, including an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18 and parental controls for teen accounts,” a spokesperson for the app said. “We will continue to work to keep our community safe by tackling industry-wide challenges.”