It’s a day when the Sun rose in the East, which likely means there’s a new lawsuit involving either illegal data collection or artificial intelligence (AI).
This one has both. Edward Lominchar filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against TikTok USDS Joint Venture, LLC on August 31, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In the complaint, Lominchar claims that TikTok’s Gauth.AI homework platform embedded Google Analytics tracking technologies to share personal data without the user’s awareness or consent.
Citing violations of both the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), Lominchar’s suit is seeking both federal and California damages.
There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
Owned by TikTok, Gauth is an AI-based “homework helper” site. Users can access educational information by entering a question or a problem in the site’s text-entry field. The chatbot then supplies either an answer or additional information on the topic. While there’s no charge to use Gauth, registered users can upgrade to a paid premium version that provides unlimited daily answers, use of an advanced and “more accurate” AI model, and access to certain courses.
According to the complaint, Lominchar first accessed Gauth as a minor attending high school in Florida in 2024. He was neither required to register nor prompted to review Gauth’s privacy policy before submitting his first question and thus was unaware that the AI included Google Analytics tracking code in a snippet of the site’s JavaScript. This meant the text of his question, which could reveal a great deal of educational and personal information either on its own or if matched to any unique Google client identifier (CID) he had, was being shared with Google without his consent. This could include his identity, location, school, academic difficulties, and private information gleaned from personal essays.
Lominchar claims the gathered data could be analyzed for ad targeting and marketing by third-party advertisers. Because the information is shared with Google before the user is alerted to the arrangement and given the opportunity to opt out, Lominchar alleges that Gauth violates the ECPA and the CIPA.
It Tolls for Thee
Of the six counts contained in the proposed class-action complaint, three cover violations of either the ECPA or the CIPA. The suit also alleges intrusion upon seclusion for violating the expectation of privacy in the deeply personal activity of completing schoolwork, invasion of privacy, and unjust enrichment. It requests tolling of applicable statutes of limitations due to his status as a minor when the unauthorized collection started, delayed discovery of the alleged behavior, and Gauth’s fraudulent concealment.
The complaint seeks ECPA statutory damages of the greater of $100 per day for each day of violation or $10,000, along with other available relief, as well as $5,000 per violation under CIPA or treble damages, if applicable. The complaint also requests an injunction to end the unauthorized transmission of user data to Google.
The proposed lawsuit may offer a costly lesson in the privacy risks that can arise when AI services collect and share students’ sensitive educational information. For now, however, the claims remain allegations that TikTok USDS Joint Venture can challenge in court.
