Despite stricter court rulings and limits on the use of older statutes to regulate newer technologies, 2025's increase in privacy litigation, especially around tracking technologies, looks set to continue into 2026, said privacy lawyers in interviews. Additionally, the potential for lawmakers clarifying the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) could push litigators to bring cases at even faster rates this year as they hope to file before an amendment becomes effective, one lawyer said.
Health care providers should update their HIPAA-related Notice of Privacy Practices by Feb. 16 to comply with new rules related to substance use disorder records, Holland & Hart said in a post Tuesday (see 2512100062).
Many states that have had leading roles in the privacy space will continue to do so in 2026, but several newcomers will be noteworthy owing to laws coming online, potential enforcement and litigation, privacy lawyers said.
A federal court has finalized Disney’s $10 million settlement over claims that the company violated COPPA when it failed to designate its YouTube content as “directed toward children,” DOJ said Tuesday.
The FTC’s $60 million settlement with Instacart suggests that automation doesn’t “absolve companies of transparency, consent, or fairness obligations,” attorneys for Mintz said in a post Tuesday.
Enforcement has focused heavily in 2025 on surface-level, obvious and quick fixes, privacy lawyers said in recent interviews. While this trend will continue in 2026, additional tools and other factors should keep enforcement an area to watch, they said.
Kids privacy and child safety online have been hot-button issues on both sides of the aisle and will remain so in 2026, said privacy lawyers in interviews with Privacy Daily. Despite the bipartisan focus and federal bills pending on these issues, several of the lawyers were doubtful about passage of a national law next year.
Consumer Reports and other groups raised the stakes on an earlier claim that Instacart is using personal data to set grocery prices, unbeknownst to customers. On Tuesday, Consumer Reports and More Perfect Union called on the FTC and state attorneys general to investigate, presenting a petition with 40,000 signatures and charging Instacart with deceptive or unfair pricing practices in violation of the FTC Act.
The FTC should reopen its study of surveillance pricing, a bipartisan group of senators wrote Chairman Andrew Ferguson in a letter released Thursday.
Days after suing five TV companies for spying on consumers and recording what they watch, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said Wednesday he had secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) against one of them, Hisense, to stop it from collecting personal data. Meanwhile, an attorney said Texas' action highlighted regulation of smart connected devices like TVs, which have become surveillance tools. Another said resulting fines against the companies could be significant.