E-FILED 1/8/2021 5:01 PM Clerk of Court 1 NORTH RIVER LAW PLLC Superior Court of CA, Times Wang (State Bar No. 281077) County of Santa Clara 2 [email protected] 21CV375169 1300 I Street NW, Suite 400E 3 Reviewed By: R. Walker Washington, DC 20005 4 Tel: (202) 838-6489 5 SCHONBRUN SEPLOW HARRIS HOFFMAN & ZELDES LLP 6 Paul L. Hoffman (State Bar No. 71244) 7 [email protected] 200 Pier Avenue, #226 8 Hermosa Beach, CA 90245 Tel: (310) 396-0731 9 Counsel for Plaintiffs and the proposed Class 10 (Additional counsel listed on signature page) 11 SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 12 COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA 13 Citizen Power Initiatives for China, and Doe Case No. Plaintiffs 1-6, the latter individually and on 21CV375169 14 behalf of all others similarly situated, CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT FOR 15 Plaintiffs, (1) Declaratory and injunctive relief that certain practices and contractual 16 v. provisions are unlawful and unenforceable 17 Tencent America LLC and Tencent (2) Violations of the California International Service Pte. Ltd., constitutional right to privacy 18 (3) Violations of the California Defendants. constitutional right to free speech 19 (4) Violations of the California constitutional right to equal protection 20 (5) Intrusion on seclusion (6) Conversion and trespass to chattels 21 (7) Intentional infliction of emotional distress 22 (8) Negligence (9) Unjust enrichment 23 (10) Violations of the California Unfair Competition Law 24 (11) Violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act 25 DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL 26 AMOUNT DEMANDED EXCEEDS 27 $25,000 COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES, DECLARATORY, AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 I. NATURE OF THE ACTION ........................................................................................................... 1 3 II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE ...................................................................................................... 3 4 III. PARTIES .............................................................................................................................................. 3 5 A. Plaintiffs .................................................................................................................................. 3 6 1. Citizen Power Initiatives for China ...................................................................... 3 7 1. Doe Plaintiff 1 .......................................................................................................... 4 8 2. Doe Plaintiff 2 .......................................................................................................... 4 9 3. Doe Plaintiff 3 .......................................................................................................... 4 10 4. Doe Plaintiff 4 .......................................................................................................... 4 11 5. Doe Plaintiff 5 .......................................................................................................... 4 12 6. Doe Plaintiff 6 .......................................................................................................... 4 13 B. Defendants .............................................................................................................................. 5 14 1. Tencent America LLC ............................................................................................ 5 15 2. Tencent International Service Pte. Ltd. ............................................................... 5 16 IV. STATEMENT OF FACTS ............................................................................................................... 5 17 A. WeChat is the most popular and ubiquitous social media application in the global Chinese-speaking community and maintains an effective monopoly 18 on electronic communications in that community, including in California. ............. 5 19 B. WeChat is censored and surveilled in California. .......................................................... 8 20 C. WeChat’s censorship and surveillance practices in California harm California WeChat users in many ways. .......................................................................... 8 21 D. The challenged practices and provisions have inflicted significant harm on 22 Doe Plaintiffs. ...................................................................................................................... 10 23 1. Doe Plaintiff 1 ........................................................................................................ 10 24 2. Doe Plaintiff 2 ........................................................................................................ 12 25 3. Doe Plaintiff 3 ........................................................................................................ 13 26 4. Doe Plaintiff 4 ........................................................................................................ 15 27 5. Doe Plaintiff 5 ........................................................................................................ 16 i COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES, DECLARATORY, AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF 1 6. Doe Plaintiff 6 ........................................................................................................ 17 2 E. Researchers at The Citizen Lab have conducted experiments proving that California WeChat users’ communications are censored and surveilled, and 3 that WeChat uses those communications to “improve” WeChat’s censorship and surveillance apparatus. ................................................................................................ 17 4 F. A white-hat hacker has uncovered evidence that California WeChat user 5 data and communications are made available to the Party-state. .............................. 19 6 G. Tencent’s censorship and surveillance practices have negative emotional, psychological, and behavioral consequences on California WeChat users............. 22 7 H. Tencent broadly denies that the challenged practices occur. ..................................... 24 8 I. Tencent’s “WeChat Help Center” makes a slew of privacy-related 9 assurances. ............................................................................................................................ 25 10 J. WeChat’s privacy policy and terms of service exacerbate the harms associated with the challenged practices. ....................................................................... 26 11 1. WeChat’s privacy policy and terms of service are unclear as to 12 whether the challenged practices are permitted or prohibited. ..................... 26 13 2. WeChat’s terms of service relating to Tencent’s right to use California WeChat user data and communications to improve 14 WeChat’s offerings. .............................................................................................. 28 15 3. WeChat’s terms of service purport to require California WeChat users to give up a host of legal rights and remedies. ...................................... 28 16 4. WeChat’s terms of service purport to subject California WeChat 17 users who happen to be PRC citizens to even more onerous terms of service. ..................................................................................................................... 30 18 V. CPIFC HAS STANDING TO BRING THESE CLAIMS. ...................................................... 30 19 A. CPIFC’s mission is to help Chinese people defend their human rights and 20 to advance a peaceful transition to democracy in the PRC. ....................................... 30 21 B. Tencent’s policies and practices, including those challenged here, have significantly hampered CPIFC’s mission. ...................................................................... 31 22 1. WeChat’s censorship and surveillance practices and policies 23 frustrate CPIFC’s ability to communicate with Chinese people inside and outside the PRC. ................................................................................. 32 24 2. The personal experience of CPIFC’s founder is illustrative. ........................ 33 25 3. The challenged provisions also harm CPIFC. .................................................. 34 26 C. The requested relief would redress the harms experienced by CPIFC..................... 39 27 VI. CLASS ACTION ALLEGATIONS ............................................................................................. 41 ii COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES, DECLARATORY, AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF 1 VII. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ..................................................................................................... 43 2 VIII. CLAIMS FOR RELIEF ................................................................................................................... 43 3 COUNT I: Declaratory judgment that the challenged practices are unlawful and that the challenged provisions are unenforceable, and related injunctive 4 relief ....................................................................................................................................... 43 5 COUNT II: Violation of the right to privacy under the California constitution .................. 45 6 COUNT III: Violation of the right to free speech under the California constitution .......... 47 7 COUNT IV: Violation of the right to equal protection under the California constitution............................................................................................................................ 48 8 COUNT V: Intrusion upon seclusion ..........................................................................................