Weekly Digest
Every week, we summarize the most important privacy events across the platforms we track.
This Week in Privacy: Sep 7-13, 2026
New Mexico filed trial against Facebook over its role in the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal. The case centers on Facebook's responsibility in allowing political consulting firm access to millions of users' personal data.
This Week in Privacy: Aug 31 - Sep 6, 2026
Major publishers filed a federal lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI on September 4, 2026, alleging unauthorized scraping of paywalled content to train AI systems. The suit marks a significant legal challenge to tech companies' data collection practices for AI development.
This Week in Privacy: Aug 24-30, 2026
Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a lawsuit from 52 state attorneys general over addictive features harming young users on Facebook and Instagram. The settlement addresses claims that the platforms were intentionally designed to encourage excessive use among minors.
This Week in Privacy: Aug 17-23, 2026
TikTok settled a $400 million case with the U.S. Justice Department for violating children's privacy laws by collecting personal data without proper consent. The settlement marks a major enforcement action addressing illegal data collection practices on the popular social media platform.
This Week in Privacy: Aug 10-16, 2026
Meta removed 756,000 accounts suspected of being underage Australian users following the country's new social media age ban. The enforcement represents a significant step in Australia's world-first regulatory approach to protecting minors online.
This Week in Privacy: Aug 3-9, 2026
Meta faces $567 million additional penalty from New Mexico judge for child safety violations, bringing total fines to $942 million. The ruling found Meta's platforms constitute a public nuisance endangering minors.
This Week in Privacy: Jul 27 - Aug 2, 2026
Google faces potential $10 billion in private damages claims from European price comparison sites after an €890 million DMA fine for anti-competitive practices. The ruling marks a major enforcement action against preferential treatment of Google's own services in search results.
This Week in Privacy: Jul 20-26, 2026
Google faced a record €890 million EU fine for Digital Markets Act violations, favoring its services in search results and restricting app developers. The penalty marks a major enforcement action against tech giant dominance practices in Europe.
This Week in Privacy: Jul 13-19, 2026
Louisiana enacted a comprehensive consumer privacy law effective January 1, 2027, joining 20+ states with similar frameworks. The Louisiana Data Privacy Act applies broad protections across multiple business sectors.
This Week in Privacy: Jul 6-12, 2026
Meta discontinued its Muse Image AI feature days after launch amid privacy backlash from SAG-AFTRA and critics. The AI tool faced immediate concerns over unauthorized use of artists' work and copyright issues.
This Week in Privacy: Jun 29 - Jul 5, 2026
Europe's top court upheld a €4.1 billion antitrust fine against Google over Android practices, ending a decade-long legal dispute. The ruling marks a significant victory for EU regulators in their ongoing enforcement actions against tech giants.
This Week in Privacy: Jun 22-28, 2026
Japanese telecom KDDI disclosed a major breach exposing 14.2 million email accounts across six ISPs via third-party software vulnerability. The incident highlights growing cyber risks in telecommunications infrastructure affecting millions globally.
This Week in Privacy: Jun 15-21, 2026
Facebook consolidated its US privacy disclosures by removing separate Regional Privacy Notice references from its main policy. This streamlines privacy documentation for US residents accessing Meta's platforms.
This Week in Privacy: Jun 8-14, 2026
South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission issued a record $412 million fine to eCommerce platform Coupang for a data breach affecting 34 million accounts. The unprecedented penalty highlights intensifying global enforcement of data protection regulations against major tech companies.
This Week in Privacy: Jun 1-7, 2026
Baker Distributing Company, an HVAC/R wholesale distributor, suffered a May 2025 data breach when ShinyHunters extracted data from SharePoint and Salesforce systems. The extortion group accessed sensitive information from one of the industry's major supply chain players.
This Week in Privacy: May 25-31, 2026
Atlas Menu, a popular cheat service for GTA V and CS2, suffered a major data breach in May 2026 when attackers accessed and published its database on GitHub. The incident exposed customer data from the gaming cheat platform to the public.
This Week in Privacy: May 18-24, 2026
Google faces $135 million settlement for allegedly collecting Android user data without consent, affecting millions of devices since 2017. The privacy violation highlights ongoing concerns about unauthorized data collection practices across major tech platforms.
This Week in Privacy: May 11-17, 2026
Google agreed to pay $135 million to settle charges of collecting Android device data without permission and consuming cellular data. The major settlement addresses privacy violations affecting millions of users across the Android ecosystem.
This Week in Privacy: May 4-10, 2026
Trump administration nearing $400 million settlement with TikTok over illegal data collection from children under 13 without parental consent. The deal addresses major privacy violations involving millions of minors' personal information.
This Week in Privacy: Apr 27 - May 3, 2026
Instructure, an educational technology company, confirmed a significant data breach exposing personal information including names, emails, and student IDs. The incident affected users across multiple institutions, raising concerns about student privacy protection.
This Week in Privacy: Apr 20-26, 2026
India's antitrust regulator is pursuing a monopolistic practices case against Apple over forced use of its App Store payment system. The investigation could reshape app distribution policies globally amid growing regulatory scrutiny.
This Week in Privacy: Apr 13-19, 2026
Vercel, a major cloud development platform, confirmed a security breach after a threat actor accessed internal systems through a compromised employee's Google Workspace account. The incident affected the company's infrastructure and internal operations during the week.
This Week in Privacy: Apr 6-12, 2026
Instagram shifted its data controller from Meta Platforms Ireland Limited to Meta Platforms, Inc., marking a significant privacy policy restructure. This change affects which entity legally handles user data and applicable privacy regulations across the platform.
This Week in Privacy: Mar 30 - Apr 5, 2026
Meta restructured its privacy policy, shifting the data controller from Meta Platforms, Inc. to Meta Platforms Ireland Limited with expanded data disclosures. This major privacy framework revision affects Facebook users globally with significant changes to how user data is controlled and disclosed.
This Week in Privacy: Mar 23-29, 2026
TikTok shifted its EU data controller to a U.S. entity, replacing the Ireland/UK structure with TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC and updating privacy policies accordingly. This major restructuring affects millions of European users' data handling and regulatory compliance under GDPR.
This Week in Privacy: Mar 16-22, 2026
ID Care data breach prompts law firm investigation into affected persons' claims. Major privacy incident highlights ongoing data security vulnerabilities across platforms.
This Week in Privacy: Mar 9-15, 2026
Court overturns €746m Amazon privacy fine but refers case back to Luxembourg regulator for review. EU data protection enforcement faces uncertainty as major tech privacy case continues.
This Week in Privacy: Mar 2-8, 2026
FBI investigates major data breach affecting wiretapping tools, according to The Register. Incident marks significant cybersecurity concern for law enforcement operations.
This Week in Privacy: Feb 23 - Mar 1, 2026
Discord delays age verification plans after user backlash, reported by BBC. The platform reconsidered its privacy approach following community concerns this week.