TikTok’s US entity faces class action over AI homework helper

Users say TikTok's artificial intelligence-based learning platform Gauth transmits their queries and personal data to Google for advertising purposes.(CN) — The joint entity that operates TikTok in the United States has drawn fire over its artificial intelligence-based homework helper Gauth, with users claiming the platform secretly transmitted users’ private data and search queries to Google for commercial use.Named plaintiff Edward Lominchar filed the class action on behalf of a class of users Monday in the Central District of California, claiming that Gauth — the AI-powered platform owned by TikTok USDS Joint Venture, LLC — has embedded Google Analytics code that sends the full text of users’ search questions to Google, without users’ consent.Gauth, formerly Gauthmath, is accessible to students of all ages without payment or age verification. Students using the platform on a browser or through the Gauth app can type or upload a question across a variety of subjects, and Gauth’s AI spits out an answer within seconds.The free version of the platform limits answer access and AI queries per day, while the premium version offers unlimited answers with faster responses, a more advanced model and higher accuracy, along with credits for the platform’s assignment solver and access to premium AI courses.Lominchar, a resident of Miami, Florida, says he started using Gauth around December 2024 as a minor in high school, without creating an account on the platform. He later registered for an account and continued to submit questions to the platform until approximately January 2026.Lominchar claims he was not presented with the platform’s privacy policy prior to submitting his first question to Gauth and reasonably expected that the text of the questions would be confidential before him and the platform.“Users of the platform never contemplated, consented to, or were informed that their sensitive educational information would be used by Google for these independent commercial purposes—purposes wholly unrelated to the AI homework-help services defendant provides,” he says in the 44-page complaint.Lominchar says the data Gauth transmits to Google can “disclose an extraordinarily sensitive portrait of each user”, including the specific subjects and courses they are studying, their academic level, their academic difficulties, personal information including name, school and teachers, as well as when and how much they use the platform.He claims Google can take the activity it gathers from Gauth users, in combination with data collected from its own services including Google Search, Gmail, YouTube and Google Workspace for Education, and build comprehensive user profiles that can be sold to third-party advertisers.“The specific subjects a student is studying, the questions a student cannot answer without assistance, the personal essays and writing prompts a student completes, the content of a student’s assignments, and the patterns and intensity of a student’s reliance on outside help, each carry significant educational, reputational, and developmental implications, and each can cause substantial harm if disclosed to a school administrator, an advertiser, a data broker, or any unrelated third party,” he says in the complaint.Lominchar claims he would not have used Gauth if he knew the platform was transmitting the full text of his questions to Google to use for advertising purposes. He says Gauth’s actionsviolate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act, along with claiming intrusion upon seclusion, invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment.He asks the court for injunctive relief and damages under the EPCA of $100 per day of violation or $10,000 for each class member, as well as CIPA damages of $5,000 per violation for each class member, along with punitive and compensatory damages.The parties did not respond to requests for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads