Lawsuits Surge Over Faulty Cookie Banners and Wiretapping Claims
Over 1,000 lawsuits in 2025 claim wiretapping violations from flawed cookie banner consent.
Why it matters: Legal teams face a surge in litigation—and regulatory fines—over cookie banners that fail to honor opt-out requests. Ensuring compliance is now essential to minimize corporate risk and prevent costly penalties.
- More than 1,000 CIPA lawsuits in 2025 target websites with non-functional 'Reject All' cookie banners.
- Courts scrutinize whether opt-out choices are implemented and require actual communication for wiretapping claims.
- CPPA fined retailer Todd Snyder, Inc. $345,178 for failing to honor opt-out requests and for consent misconfigurations.
- Affirmative user assent (not just footer disclosures) is key for valid cookie consent under CIPA.
Plaintiffs' attorneys are escalating lawsuits under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), focusing on cookie banners that appear to offer consumer choice but do not actually prevent tracking when users opt out. In 2025 and early 2026, over 1,000 lawsuits alleged that websites using third-party cookies, pixels, or tracking tools violated wiretapping laws by failing to honor 'Reject All' selections in their consent banners.[Read more]
- Some recently dismissed lawsuits, such as D’Antonio et al. v. Smith & Wesson Inc., show that lack of actual communication with a website can be a defense to CIPA claims. Courts have also pointed out that generic footers or non-specific claims, as seen in De Ayora et al. v. Inspire Brands, Inc., are insufficient for plaintiffs to prevail.
- However, in Camplisson et al. v. Adidas America, Inc., the court permitted claims to move forward after finding that users did not give affirmative consent when only receiving a footer disclosure, signaling that companies relying on passive consent mechanisms remain vulnerable.
- Regulatory agencies are also cracking down. The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) recently fined Todd Snyder, Inc. over $345,000 for misconfigured cookie consent tools that imposed excessive opt-out barriers and failed to honor requests.[Details]
Legal experts warn: agencies and plaintiffs now "look under the hood" to confirm that opting out actually stops tracking, not just presents the illusion of control.[Analysis] Affirmative user assent and technical implementation are critical to compliance.
As regulatory and litigation risks grow, legal professionals must review clients' cookie consent operations, ensuring every opt-out choice is effective and documented.
By the numbers:
- 1,000+ — CIPA lawsuits filed in 2025 alleging improper cookie consent implementations
- $345,178 — CPPA fine imposed on Todd Snyder, Inc. for failure to honor opt-out requests
Yes, but: Some courts have dismissed wiretapping claims where plaintiffs could not show actual communication or offer precise allegations.