From Magistrate Judge Virginia DeMarchi's opinion last week in M.K. v. Google LLC (N.D. Cal.):
The following facts are based on the allegations of the FAC [First Amended Complaint]. In 2020, M.K. was a student at a public elementary school in the District. In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the District closed its school buildings, and M.K. began attending school remotely using a Google platform. According to the FAC, "M.K's parents were not given an option to opt out or an alternative to receive education if they did not wish to submit M.K. to the risks of attending school on the Google platform."
The District assigned M.K. a Google account. Using this account, M.K. "[was] allowed to access online videos provided by Google's YouTube, a video sharing platform[,] as well as Google [Slide Show], a platform that allows individuals to watch videos as well as insert videos and messages into slideshows to watch." The District logged M.K. out of his Google account at the end of each school day.
According to the FAC, M.K. used multiple devices to access his Google account, including his personal iPad and, later, a Google Chromebook computer supplied by the District. M.K. watched videos on Google's YouTube and Slide Show platforms while logged into the Google platform for school. M.K.'s teachers informed his parents that M.K. was watching videos during class when he should have been focused on his lessons. M.K.'s teachers further advised M.K.'s parents that the teachers could see M.K.'s online activity during class time. Based on this information, M.K. alleges that Google gave the District and other unidentified third parties access to M.K.'s online activity.
On or about January 14, 2021, one of M.K's teachers reported receiving a sexually explicit communication from M.K. via a Google chat message. M.K. alleges that his Google account had been hacked and that he did not send the message. The District investigated the message incident. As part of that investigation, the District obtained and reviewed information about the dates and times M.K.'s Google account was accessed, the activities the account user engaged in while logged in to the account, and the IP addresses used to access the account.
According to the FAC, on or about January 27, 2021, M.K.'s teacher "scheduled a parent-teacher zoom call and made a teacher suspension on the basis of 'Sexual Harassment via Google Classroom.'" The [Complaint] describes the suspension variously as a "teacher removal from class," a two-day suspension from school, an exclusion from "his regular school day" that lasted "weeks," and a "permanent[ ]" removal from class. M.K. eventually stopped attending school in the District….
The court held that this sufficiently alleged a violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act:
