Earlier this year when I questioned whether or not privacy-related issues might represent an important emerging area of corporate liability, I was thinking we might see privacy claims emerge over time. I was thinking a longer time frame, over the course of years. What has happened is that the privacy-related claims are materializing now. As I previously noted, in July investors filed a securities suit against Facebook following the company’s quarterly earnings release that disappointed investors in part because company’s growth rate was affected by allegedly unanticipated expenses and difficulties in complying with the EU’s update privacy requirements in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in May.
Investors have now filed an additional lawsuit against a company reporting GDPR-related difficulties. As discussed further below, on August 8, 2018, investors filed a lawsuit against Nielsen Holdings plc after the media performance ratings company disclosed in its quarterly earnings release that GDPR-related changes affected the company’s growth rate, pressured the company’s partners and clients, and disrupted the company’s advertising “ecosystem.” The Nielsen lawsuit underscores the suggestion that privacy-related concerns could be a significant source of corporate liability.
Continue Reading Investors Filed GDPR-Related Securities Suit Against Nielsen Holdings