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1 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
Ashley M. Simonsen, SBN 275203
2 1999 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
3 Telephone: (424) 332-4800
Email: asimonsen@cov.com
4 Facsimile: (424) 332-4749
5 Attorneys for Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc.
f/k/a Facebook, Inc.; Facebook Holdings, LLC;
6 Facebook Operations, LLC; Facebook Payments,
Inc.; Facebook Technologies, LLC; Instagram,
7 LLC; and Siculus, Inc.
8 Additional parties and counsel listed on signature pages
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SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
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COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, CENTRAL DISTRICT
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13 JUDICIAL COUNCIL COORDINATION
COORDINATION PROCEEDING SPECIAL PROCEEDING NO. 5255
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TITLE [RULE 3.400] For Filing Purposes: 22STCV21355
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Judge: Hon. Carolyn B. Kuhl
16 SSC-12
SOCIAL MEDIA CASES
17 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION
_____________________________________ AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT
18 STATEMENT REGARDING
THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO: PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED
19 INFORMATION FOR ACCOUNTS
ALL ACTIONS IDENTIFIED ON PLAINTIFF USER
20 ACCOUNT PRESERVATION FORM)
(Christina Arlington Smith, et al., v. TikTok
21 Inc., et al., Case No. 22STCV21355) [Filed concurrently with the Declarations of
Hazel Baker, Adi Jain, James Gatilin, and Ravi
22 Sinha, and Proposed Order]
23 Date: July 27, 2023
24 Time: 11:00 AM
Dept.: SSC-12
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 TO ALL PARTIES AND THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORD:
2 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT at 11:00 AM on July 27, 2023, or as soon thereafter as the
3 matter may be heard, in Department 12 of the above-captioned Court, located at 312 N Spring St, Los
4 Angeles, CA 90012, Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc., Facebook Holdings, LLC, Facebook Operations,
5 LLC, Facebook Payments, Inc., Facebook Technologies, LLC, Instagram, LLC, Siculus, Inc., Snap Inc.,
6 TikTok Inc., ByteDance Inc., YouTube, LLC, Google LLC, and Alphabet Inc. (collectively,
7 “Defendants”) will and hereby do move for an order sealing certain portions of the following filings
8 related to the Parties’ Joint Statement Regarding Preservation of CSAM-Related Information for
9 Accounts Identified on Plaintiff User Account Preservation Form (“Jt. Stat.”), pursuant to California
10 Rules of Court 2.550 and 2.551:
11 • Declaration of Hazel Baker in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Baker Supp. Decl.”)
12 • Declaration of James Gatlin in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. Statement”)
13 • Declaration of Adi Jain in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Jain Supp. Decl.”)
14 • Declaration of Ravi Sinha in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Sinha Supp. Decl.”);
15 • Plaintiffs’ [Proposed] Revised Order Governing Preservation of CSAM (“Pl. PO”);
16 • Defendants’ [Proposed] Revised Order Governing Preservation of CSAM (“Def. PO”);
17 • Redline Comparison of the Pl. PO and Def. PO (“Redline”).
18 Defendants respectfully request that the Court permanently seal the following material, also
19 identified in the attached Proposed Order. These filings contain Defendants’ non-public information and
20 could provide online predators and other bad actors with insights into their CSAM detection, reporting,
21 and prevention capabilities, and may be sealed under California Rule of Court 2.551(b):
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Document Page, Paragraph, and/or Lines
23 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 3, lines 19–24 (starting from “Snap’s reports”)
Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 8, lines 22–27
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Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 9, line 6 (starting from “and it” through “reports”)
25 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 10, lines 22–24 (starting from “Where a”)
¶ 13, lines 11–13 (starting from “But Snap”)
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Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 14, lines 19–20 (starting from “The location”)
27 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 16, 4–16 (starting from “it would be”)
28 2
DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 19, lines 8–10 (starting from “where a”)
2 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 22, lines 1–5 (starting from “Snap does”)
Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 23, lines 6–13 (starting from “some of” through
3 “retention periods”)
Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 24, lines 23–24 (starting from “Snap identifies”
4 through “detected”)
5 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 25, lines 11–13 (starting from “Some of this” through
“to NCMEC”)
6 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt.
¶ 4, lines 18-20 (starting from “TikTok does”)
Statement
7 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 5, line 28 (starting after “Additional details regarding,”
8 Statement in line 27 through “NCMEC” in line 28)
Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt.
¶ 6, lines 6-8 (starting from “It does” through “time”)
9 Statement
¶ 7, lines 10-16 (starting from “most CSAM” through
10 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt.
“upload”);
Statement
17-20 (starting from “However,”)
11
¶ 10, lines 3-9 (starting from “TikTok does not” through
Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt.
12 “potential victim”);
Statement
11-12 (starting from “TikTok also”)
13 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt.
¶ 11 (entire paragraph)
Statement
14 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt.
¶ 12, lines 20-26 (starting from “However,”)
15 Statement
Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 13, lines 1-7 (starting from “TikTok does” through
16 Statement “NCMEC Report”)
Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 7, 3:3-8
17 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 8, 3:11-17
18 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 10, 4:6-11
Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 12, 5:9-11
19
Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 13, 5:13-16
20 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 15, 6:4-5
21 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 21, 7:9-12
Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 22, 7:17-18
22 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 23, 7:23-8:2
23 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 24, 8:5-7
Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 25, 8:8-11
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Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 27, 8:21-9:3
25 Sinha Supp. Decl. 3:16–17 (from “names.” to end of line 17)
Sinha Supp. Decl. 4:14–16 (to before “and”)
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Sinha Supp. Decl. 4:20–22 (from after “above).” to before “To”)
27 Sinha Supp. Decl. 5:18–21 (from after “CSAM.’”)
28 3
DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 Pl. PO 4:8 (from after “or the” to before “label”)
2 Def. PO 4:15 (from after “the” to before “label”)
Def. PO 6:8 (from after “or” to before “scale”)
3 Redline 4:22 (from after “the” to before “label”)
4 Redline 6:23 (from after “or” to before “scale”)
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The motion is based on this notice; the accompanying memorandum of points and authorities;
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the Declarations of Ravi Sinha (“Sinha Sealing Decl.”), Hazel Baker (“Baker Sealing Decl.”), Adi Jain
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(“Jain Sealing Decl.”), and James Gatlin (“Gatlin Sealing Decl.”), filed herewith; the Baker Supp. Decl.,
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Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. Statement, Jain Supp. Decl., Sinha Supp. Decl., Pl. PO, Def. PO, and Redline,
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which are provisionally lodged under seal; the redacted/public versions of these filings, which are filed
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with the Court; and such other matters as may be presented to the Court at the time of the hearing.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 DATED: July 19, 2023 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
2
3
By: /s/ Ashley M. Simonsen
4 Ashley M. Simonsen
5 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
ASHLEY M. SIMONSEN, SBN 275203
6
asimonsen@cov.com
7 ANSEL F. CARPENTER, SBN 338829
acarpenter@cov.com
8 1999 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
9 Tel.: 424-332-4800
10
COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
11 EMILY JOHNSON HENN, SBN 269482
ehenn@cov.com
12 3000 El Camino Real
5 Palo Alto Square, 10th Floor
13 Palo Alto, CA 94306
Tel.: 650-632-4700
14
15 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
PHYLLIS A. JONES, pro hac vice
16 pajones@cov.com
PAUL W. SCHMIDT, pro hac vice
17 pschmidt@cov.com
18 MICHAEL X. IMBROSCIO, pro hac vice
forthcoming
19 mimbroscio@cov.com
One City Center
20 850 Tenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
21 Tel.: 202-662-6000
22
Attorneys for Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc.;
23 Facebook Holdings, LLC; Facebook Operations,
LLC; Facebook Payments, Inc.; Facebook
24 Technologies, LLC; Instagram, LLC; and
Siculus, Inc.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 DATED: July 19, 2023 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
2
3
By: /s/ Jonathan H. Blavin
4 Jonathan H. Blavin
5 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
JONATHAN H. BLAVIN, SBN 230269
6
jonathan.blavin@mto.com
7 560 Mission Street, 27th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105-3089
8 Tel.: 415-512-4000
9 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
ROSE L. EHLER, SBN 29652
10
Rose.Ehler@mto.com
11 VICTORIA A. DEGTYAREVA, SBN 284199
Victoria.Degtyareva@mto.com
12 ARIEL T. TESHUVA, SBN 324238
Ariel.Teshuva@mto.com
13 350 South Grand Avenue, 50th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071-3426
14
Tel.: 213-683-9100
15
MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
16 LAUREN A. BELL, pro hac vice
forthcoming
17 Lauren.Bell@mto.com
18 601 Massachusetts Ave., NW St.
Suite 500 E
19 Washington, D.C. 20001-5369
Tel.: 202-220-1100
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Attorneys for Defendant Snap Inc.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
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DATED: July 19, 2023 KING & SPALDING LLP
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3
4 By: /s/ Matthew J. Blaschke
Matthew J. Blaschke
5
KING & SPALDING LLP
6
MATTHEW J. BLASCHKE, SBN 281938
7 mblaschke@kslaw.com
BAILEY J. LANGNER, SBN 307753
8 blangner@kslaw.com
50 California Street, Suite 3300
9 San Francisco, CA 9411l
Tel.: 415-318-1200
10
11 KING & SPALDING LLP
ALBERT Q. GIANG, SBN 224332
12 agiang@kslaw.com
633 West Fifth Street, Suite 1600
13 Los Angeles, CA 90071
14 Tel.: 213-443-4310
15 KING & SPALDING LLP
GEOFFREY DRAKE, pro hac vice
16 pending
gdrake@kslaw.com
17 1180 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 1600
18 Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel.: 404-572-4600
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20 DATED: July 19, 2023 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP
21
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By: /s/ Tarifa B. Laddon
23 Tarifa B. Laddon
24 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE
& REATH LLP
25 TARIFA B. LADDON, SBN 240419
26 tarifa.laddon@faegredrinker.com
DAVID P. KOLLER, SBN 328633
27 david.koller@faegredrinker.com
28 7
DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 1800 Century Park East, Suite 1500
Los Angeles, CA 90067
2 Tel.: 310-203-4000
3
FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE
4 & REATH LLP
ANDREA R. PIERSON, pro hac vice
5 andrea.pierson@faegredrinker.com
300 N. Meridian Street, Suite 2500
6
Indianapolis, IN 46204
7 Tel: 317-237-1424
8 Attorneys for Defendants TikTok Inc. and ByteDance
Inc.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 DATED: July 19, 2023 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP
2
3
By: /s/ Christopher C. Chiou
4 Christopher C. Chiou
5 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
LLP
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CHRISTOPHER C. CHIOU, SBN
7 233587
cchiou@wsgr.com
8 SAMANTHA MACHOCK, SBN 298852
smachock@wsgr.com
9 633 W 5th St, Ste 1550
Los Angeles, CA 90071-3543
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Tel.: 323-210-2900
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WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
12 LLP
LAUREN WHITE, SBN 309075
13 lwhite@wsgr.com
One Market Plaza, Spear Tower, Suite 3300
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San Francisco, CA 94105
15 Tel.: 415-947-2000
16 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
LLP
17 BRIAN M. WILLEN, pro hac vice
18 forthcoming
bwillen@wsgr.com
19 1301 Avenue of the Americas, 40th Floor
New York, New York 10019
20 Tel.: 212-999-5800
21 Attorneys for Defendants YouTube, LLC, Google
22 LLC, Alphabet Inc.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 DATED: July 19, 2023 WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP
2
3
By: /s/ Joseph G. Petrosinelli
4 Joseph G. Petrosinelli
5 WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP
JOSEPH G. PETROSINELLI, pro hac vice
6
application forthcoming
7 jpetrosinelli@wc.com
ASHLEY W. HARDIN, pro hac vice application
8 forthcoming
ahardin@wc.com
9 680 Maine Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024
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Tel.: (202) 434-5000
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Attorneys for Defendants YouTube, LLC, Google
12 LLC, Alphabet Inc.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES
2 Defendants move to seal several narrow pieces of information, identified in the attached
3 Proposed Order, in filings related to the Parties’ Joint Statement Regarding Preservation of CSAM-
4 Related Information for Accounts Identified on Plaintiff User Account Preservation Form. This
5 information is non-public and would, if publicly revealed, provide online predators and other bad actors
6 with insights into Defendants’ child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”) detection, reporting, and
7 prevention capabilities—potentially enabling bad actors to avoid detection.
8 I. LEGAL STANDARD
9 To seal judicial records, the Rules of Court generally require express factual findings that an
10 “overriding interest . . . overcomes the right of public access to the record.” Cal. R. Ct. 2.550(d)(1); see
11 id. 2.550(d) (requiring a finding that a “substantial probability exists that the overriding interest will be
12 prejudiced if the record is not sealed” and the sealing is “narrowly tailored”). But that requirement
13 “do[es] not apply to discovery motions and records filed or lodged in connection with discovery motions
14 or proceedings.” Id. 2.550(a)(3); see also id. (explaining that the Rule applies to discovery materials
15 “used at trial or submitted as a basis for adjudication of matters other than discovery motions or
16 proceedings”). The Court of Appeal has construed “discovery motions and proceedings” for purposes of
17 the sealing rules to encompass all discovery disputes except “question[s that are] not merely ancillary or
18 preliminary to some larger litigation but [are] the whole end and purpose of the case.” H.B. Fuller Co.
19 v. Doe, 151 Cal. App. 4th 879, 893 (2007). “The discovery process, which is intended to be largely self-
20 enforcing, would be greatly impeded if every document a party might produce was ipso facto open to
21 public inspection . . . . It is therefore eminently sound to exempt discovered material from the
22 presumptive right of public access[.]” Id.1
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24 1
Plaintiffs have previously argued that this standard applies only to the motions listed in Rule 3.1345.
See Opposition to Defendants’ June 9, 2023 Motion to Seal at 3. But Rule 3.145 does not set out a
25 comprehensive list of discovery motions; it simply lists motions requiring “a separate statement”
26 meeting certain specifications. In any event, neither Rule 3.1345 nor the sealing rules states or implies
that the only motions that are “discovery motions and proceedings” under Rule 2.550(a)(3) are those
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 California courts have often looked to federal courts’ decisions when examining the principles
2 underlying the sealing analysis. See, e.g., id. at 887 (collecting federal cases). Federal law has carved
3 out an exception to the strong preference for public access for sealed materials attached to a discovery
4 motion unrelated to the merits of a case. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092,
5 1097 (9th Cir. 2016). A party seeking to seal such materials must establish only “good cause” for
6 sealing, as opposed to “compelling reasons.” See, e.g., Calhoun v. Google LLC, 2022 WL 3348583, at
7 *1–2 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 12, 2022) (applying good-cause standard to filings related to preservation
8 disputes).2 But even when federal courts have applied the “compelling reasons” standard, they have
9 found it satisfied when information may be a vehicle for improper purposes, such as facilitating
10 exploitation by bad actors. See, e.g., Connor v. Quora, Inc., 2020 WL 6700473, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Nov.
11 13, 2020).
12 II. ARGUMENT
13 Defendants seek to seal several narrow pieces of non-public information about their CSAM
14 detection, reporting, and prevention capabilities, processes, and systems.
15 As explained above, express factual findings under the sealing rule are not required to seal non-
16 public information in Defendants’ declarations. See Cal. R. Ct. 2.550(a)(3) (“These rules do not apply
17 to discovery motions and records filed or lodged in connection with discovery motions or
18 proceedings.”). Although the relief that Plaintiffs seek is a mandatory injunction to require Defendants
19 to create new information for purposes of this litigation, Plaintiffs have framed their motion in terms of
20 preservation of discoverable information and the case is still in a pre-discovery posture. The order they
21 seek would require Defendants to create and/or preserve information so that it is available to be obtained
22 in discovery. Creating or preserving this information is a discovery-related matter that is not subject to
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24 listed in Rule 3.1345, and Plaintiffs point to no court that has taken that view. And when the Court of
Appeal did elaborate on the meaning of the phrase “discovery motions and proceedings,” it did so
25 without reference to Rule 3.1345. H.B. Fuller Co., 151 Cal. App. 4th at 893.
2
26 For clarity, no factual findings are required under California law. Defendants’ reference to federal
law’s lower standard for sealing discovery-related filings underscores that a lower standard is
27 appropriate here.
28 12
DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 Rule 2.550’s fact-finding requirements, and for good reason: so that the Parties and Court can avoid the
2 “laborious collateral litigation to establish grounds for a sealing order.” H.B. Fuller Co., 151 Cal. App.
3 4th at 893.
4 Even if express factual findings under Rule 2.550(d) were required, it would still be appropriate
5 to seal this information. As explained in Defendants’ sealing declarations, submitted herewith, the
6 information that Defendants seek to seal is not revealed publicly. See Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 4; Baker
7 Sealing Decl. ¶ 2; Jain Sealing Decl. ¶ 3; Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶ 5; see, e.g., McGuan v. Endovascular
8 Techs., Inc., 182 Cal. App. 4th 974, 989 (2010) (affirming sealing of information that would “reveal the
9 business methods and processes Defendants have developed to comply with the requirement of very
10 technical FDA regulations”).3
11 Moreover, the information, if revealed publicly, would provide insights to online predators and
12 other bad actors that could enable them to avoid detection on Defendants’ services. Federal courts have
13 found compelling reasons to seal information when “court files might . . . become a vehicle for improper
14 purposes.” Kamakana v. City & Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1179 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon
15 v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc. 435 U.S. 589, 598 (1978)). For example, courts have routinely sealed
16 information that could be used by bad actors to evade security systems. See, e.g., Connor, 2020 WL
17 6700473, at *2 (sealing information “that could be used by a bad actor to exploit and breach Quora’s
18 systems”); Adtrader, Inc. v. Google LLC, 2020 WL 6387381, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 24, 2020) (sealing
19 information that “could . . . alert[] individuals who seek to circumvent Google’s detection systems”); In
20 re Google Inc. Gmail Litig. 2014 WL 10537440, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 6, 2014) (sealing information
21 that “could lead to a breach in the security of the Gmail system”). They also have found compelling
22 reasons to seal material that “could put at risk the safety of one or more individuals if made public.”
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Plaintiffs have previously argued that this non-public information is not sufficiently confidential to
26 warrant sealing because Defendants share it with NCMEC and each other. See Plaintiffs’ Opposition to
Defendants’ June 9, 2023 Motion to Seal at 2, 5. That is irrelevant: the risk from revealing this
27 information arises from public revelations that could provide insights to bad actors.
28 13
DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 Campbell v. Grounds 2022 WL 14151744, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 24, 2022) (sealing witness name to
2 protect safety).
3 Similar overriding reasons justify sealing here. As Ravi Sinha—Meta’s Head of Child Safety
4 Policy and a former federal prosecutor focusing on child exploitation—explained, many online predators
5 are adversarial and highly sophisticated; they actively seek new ways to locate, contact, exploit, and
6 abuse minors, including by evading detection on online services. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 6; see also
7 Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶ 7 (testifying similarly on behalf of TikTok). Many of these predators share
8 information with each other, including creating and disseminating comprehensive guides on how to
9 locate, contact, exploit, and abuse minors, and how to evade detection. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 6; Gatlin
10 Sealing Decl. ¶ 7. The information that Defendants move to seal concerns their non-public CSAM
11 detection and reporting capabilities, processes, and systems. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶¶ 2–4; Baker Sealing
12 Decl. ¶ 3; Jain Sealing Decl. ¶ 3; Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶¶ 4–5. Revealing it could help bad actors evade
13 detection on Defendants’ services. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 5; Baker Sealing Decl. ¶ 3; Jain Sealing Decl.
14 ¶ 4; Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶ 6. As a result, there is an overriding interest in maintaining its
15 confidentiality. See, e.g., Adtrader, 2020 WL 6387381, at *2 (sealing information that could “alert[]
16 individuals who seek to circumvent Google’s detection systems”); Music Group Macao Com. Offshore
17 Limited v. Foote, 2015 WL 3993147 at *5 (N.D. Cal. June 30, 2015) (similar); In re Google Inc. Gmail
18 Litig., 2013 WL 5366963, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 25, 2013) (similar); see also Campbell, 2022 WL
19 14151744, at *1 (sealing material to protect individuals’ safety).
20 III. CONCLUSION
21 For the reasons set forth above, Defendants respectfully request that the Court order that the
22 material identified in the Proposed Order be sealed.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 DATED: July 19, 2023 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
2
3
By: /s/ Ashley M. Simonsen
4 Ashley M. Simonsen
5 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
ASHLEY M. SIMONSEN, SBN 275203
6
asimonsen@cov.com
7 ANSEL F. CARPENTER, SBN 338829
acarpenter@cov.com
8 1999 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
9 Tel.: 424-332-4800
10
COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
11 EMILY JOHNSON HENN, SBN 269482
ehenn@cov.com
12 3000 El Camino Real
5 Palo Alto Square, 10th Floor
13 Palo Alto, CA 94306
Tel.: 650-632-4700
14
15 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
PHYLLIS A. JONES, pro hac vice
16 pajones@cov.com
PAUL W. SCHMIDT, pro hac vice
17 pschmidt@cov.com
18 MICHAEL X. IMBROSCIO, pro hac vice
forthcoming
19 mimbroscio@cov.com
One City Center
20 850 Tenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
21 Tel.: 202-662-6000
22
Attorneys for Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc.;
23 Facebook Holdings, LLC; Facebook Operations,
LLC; Facebook Payments, Inc.; Facebook
24 Technologies, LLC; Instagram, LLC; and
Siculus, Inc.
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)
1 DATED: July 19, 2023 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
2
3
By: /s/ Jonathan H. Blavin
4 Jonathan H. Blavin
5 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
JONATHAN H. BLAVIN, SBN 230269
6
jonathan.blavin@mto.com
7 560 Mission Street, 27th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105-3089
8 Tel.: 415-512-4000
9 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
ROSE L. EHLER, SBN 29652
10
Rose.Ehler@mto.com
11 VICTORIA A. DEGTYAREVA, SBN 284199
Victoria.Degtyareva@mto.com
12 ARIEL T. TESHUVA, SBN 324238
Ariel.Teshuva@mto.com
13 350 South Grand Avenue, 50th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071-3426
14
Tel.: 213-683-9100
15
MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP
16 LAUREN A. BELL, pro hac vice
forthcoming
17 Lauren.Bell@mto.com
18 601 Massachusetts Ave., NW St.
Suite 500 E
19 Washington, D.C. 20001-5369
Tel.: 202-220-1100
20
Attorneys for Defendant Snap Inc.
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DATED: July 19, 2023 KING & SPALDING LLP
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Matthew J. Blaschke
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KING & SPALDING LLP
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MATTHEW J. BLASCHKE, SBN 281938
7 mblaschke@kslaw.com
BAILEY J. LANGNER, SBN 307753
8 blangner@kslaw.com
50 California Street, Suite 3300
9 San Francisco, CA 9411l
Tel.: 415-318-1200
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11 KING & SPALDING LLP
ALBERT Q. GIANG, SBN 224332
12 agiang@kslaw.com
633 West Fifth Street, Suite 1600
13 Los Angeles, CA 90071
14 Tel.: 213-443-4310
15 KING & SPALDING LLP
GEOFFREY DRAKE, pro hac vice
16 pending
gdrake@kslaw.com
17 1180 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 1600
18 Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel.: 404-572-4600
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20 DATED: July 19, 2023 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP
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By: /s/ Tarifa B. Laddon
23 Tarifa B. Laddon
24 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE
& REATH LLP
25 TARIFA B. LADDON, SBN 240419
26 tarifa.laddon@faegredrinker.com
DAVID P. KOLLER, SBN 328633
27 david.koller@faegredrinker.com
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1 1800 Century Park East, Suite 1500
Los Angeles, CA 90067
2 Tel.: 310-203-4000
3
FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE
4 & REATH LLP
ANDREA R. PIERSON, pro hac vice
5 andrea.pierson@faegredrinker.com
300 N. Meridian Street, Suite 2500
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Indianapolis, IN 46204
7 Tel: 317-237-1424
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DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING
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4 Christopher C. Chiou
5 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
LLP
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CHRISTOPHER C. CHIOU, SBN
7 233587
cchiou@wsgr.com
8 SAMANTHA MACHOCK, SBN 298852
smachock@wsgr.com
9 633 W 5th St, Ste 1550
Los Angeles, CA 90071-3543
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WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
12 LLP
LAUREN WHITE, SBN 309075
13 lwhite@wsgr.com
One Market Plaza, Spear Tower, Suite 3300
14
San Francisco, CA 94105
15 Tel.: 415-947-2000
16 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
LLP
17 BRIAN M. WILLEN, pro hac vice
18 forthcoming
bwillen@wsgr.com
19 1301 Avenue of the Americas, 40th Floor
New York, New York 10019
20 Tel.: 212-999-5800
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4 Joseph G. Petrosinelli
5 WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP
JOSEPH G. PETROSINELLI, pro hac vice
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application forthcoming
7 jpetrosinelli@wc.com
ASHLEY W. HARDIN, pro hac vice application
8 forthcoming
ahardin@wc.com
9 680 Maine Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024
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1 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP Ashley M. Simonsen, SBN 275203 2 1999 Avenue of the Stars Los Angeles, CA 90067 3 Telephone: (424) 332-4800 Email: asimonsen@cov.com 4 Facsimile: (424) 332-4749 5 Attorneys for Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc. f/k/a Facebook, Inc.; Facebook Holdings, LLC; 6 Facebook Operations, LLC; Facebook Payments, Inc.; Facebook Technologies, LLC; Instagram, 7 LLC; and Siculus, Inc. 8 Additional parties and counsel listed on signature pages 9 10 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 11 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, CENTRAL DISTRICT 12 13 JUDICIAL COUNCIL COORDINATION COORDINATION PROCEEDING SPECIAL PROCEEDING NO. 5255 14 TITLE [RULE 3.400] For Filing Purposes: 22STCV21355 15 Judge: Hon. Carolyn B. Kuhl 16 SSC-12 SOCIAL MEDIA CASES 17 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION _____________________________________ AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT 18 STATEMENT REGARDING THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO: PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED 19 INFORMATION FOR ACCOUNTS ALL ACTIONS IDENTIFIED ON PLAINTIFF USER 20 ACCOUNT PRESERVATION FORM) (Christina Arlington Smith, et al., v. TikTok 21 Inc., et al., Case No. 22STCV21355) [Filed concurrently with the Declarations of Hazel Baker, Adi Jain, James Gatilin, and Ravi 22 Sinha, and Proposed Order] 23 Date: July 27, 2023 24 Time: 11:00 AM Dept.: SSC-12 25 26 27 28 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 TO ALL PARTIES AND THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORD: 2 PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT at 11:00 AM on July 27, 2023, or as soon thereafter as the 3 matter may be heard, in Department 12 of the above-captioned Court, located at 312 N Spring St, Los 4 Angeles, CA 90012, Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc., Facebook Holdings, LLC, Facebook Operations, 5 LLC, Facebook Payments, Inc., Facebook Technologies, LLC, Instagram, LLC, Siculus, Inc., Snap Inc., 6 TikTok Inc., ByteDance Inc., YouTube, LLC, Google LLC, and Alphabet Inc. (collectively, 7 “Defendants”) will and hereby do move for an order sealing certain portions of the following filings 8 related to the Parties’ Joint Statement Regarding Preservation of CSAM-Related Information for 9 Accounts Identified on Plaintiff User Account Preservation Form (“Jt. Stat.”), pursuant to California 10 Rules of Court 2.550 and 2.551: 11 • Declaration of Hazel Baker in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Baker Supp. Decl.”) 12 • Declaration of James Gatlin in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. Statement”) 13 • Declaration of Adi Jain in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Jain Supp. Decl.”) 14 • Declaration of Ravi Sinha in Support of the Jt. Stat. (“Sinha Supp. Decl.”); 15 • Plaintiffs’ [Proposed] Revised Order Governing Preservation of CSAM (“Pl. PO”); 16 • Defendants’ [Proposed] Revised Order Governing Preservation of CSAM (“Def. PO”); 17 • Redline Comparison of the Pl. PO and Def. PO (“Redline”). 18 Defendants respectfully request that the Court permanently seal the following material, also 19 identified in the attached Proposed Order. These filings contain Defendants’ non-public information and 20 could provide online predators and other bad actors with insights into their CSAM detection, reporting, 21 and prevention capabilities, and may be sealed under California Rule of Court 2.551(b): 22 Document Page, Paragraph, and/or Lines 23 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 3, lines 19–24 (starting from “Snap’s reports”) Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 8, lines 22–27 24 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 9, line 6 (starting from “and it” through “reports”) 25 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 10, lines 22–24 (starting from “Where a”) ¶ 13, lines 11–13 (starting from “But Snap”) 26 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 14, lines 19–20 (starting from “The location”) 27 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 16, 4–16 (starting from “it would be”) 28 2 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 19, lines 8–10 (starting from “where a”) 2 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 22, lines 1–5 (starting from “Snap does”) Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 23, lines 6–13 (starting from “some of” through 3 “retention periods”) Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 24, lines 23–24 (starting from “Snap identifies” 4 through “detected”) 5 Baker Supp. Decl. ¶ 25, lines 11–13 (starting from “Some of this” through “to NCMEC”) 6 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 4, lines 18-20 (starting from “TikTok does”) Statement 7 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 5, line 28 (starting after “Additional details regarding,” 8 Statement in line 27 through “NCMEC” in line 28) Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 6, lines 6-8 (starting from “It does” through “time”) 9 Statement ¶ 7, lines 10-16 (starting from “most CSAM” through 10 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. “upload”); Statement 17-20 (starting from “However,”) 11 ¶ 10, lines 3-9 (starting from “TikTok does not” through Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. 12 “potential victim”); Statement 11-12 (starting from “TikTok also”) 13 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 11 (entire paragraph) Statement 14 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 12, lines 20-26 (starting from “However,”) 15 Statement Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. ¶ 13, lines 1-7 (starting from “TikTok does” through 16 Statement “NCMEC Report”) Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 7, 3:3-8 17 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 8, 3:11-17 18 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 10, 4:6-11 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 12, 5:9-11 19 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 13, 5:13-16 20 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 15, 6:4-5 21 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 21, 7:9-12 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 22, 7:17-18 22 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 23, 7:23-8:2 23 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 24, 8:5-7 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 25, 8:8-11 24 Jain Supp. Decl. ¶ 27, 8:21-9:3 25 Sinha Supp. Decl. 3:16–17 (from “names.” to end of line 17) Sinha Supp. Decl. 4:14–16 (to before “and”) 26 Sinha Supp. Decl. 4:20–22 (from after “above).” to before “To”) 27 Sinha Supp. Decl. 5:18–21 (from after “CSAM.’”) 28 3 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 Pl. PO 4:8 (from after “or the” to before “label”) 2 Def. PO 4:15 (from after “the” to before “label”) Def. PO 6:8 (from after “or” to before “scale”) 3 Redline 4:22 (from after “the” to before “label”) 4 Redline 6:23 (from after “or” to before “scale”) 5 The motion is based on this notice; the accompanying memorandum of points and authorities; 6 the Declarations of Ravi Sinha (“Sinha Sealing Decl.”), Hazel Baker (“Baker Sealing Decl.”), Adi Jain 7 (“Jain Sealing Decl.”), and James Gatlin (“Gatlin Sealing Decl.”), filed herewith; the Baker Supp. Decl., 8 Gatlin Decl. ISO Jt. Statement, Jain Supp. Decl., Sinha Supp. Decl., Pl. PO, Def. PO, and Redline, 9 which are provisionally lodged under seal; the redacted/public versions of these filings, which are filed 10 with the Court; and such other matters as may be presented to the Court at the time of the hearing. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Ashley M. Simonsen 4 Ashley M. Simonsen 5 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP ASHLEY M. SIMONSEN, SBN 275203 6 asimonsen@cov.com 7 ANSEL F. CARPENTER, SBN 338829 acarpenter@cov.com 8 1999 Avenue of the Stars Los Angeles, CA 90067 9 Tel.: 424-332-4800 10 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP 11 EMILY JOHNSON HENN, SBN 269482 ehenn@cov.com 12 3000 El Camino Real 5 Palo Alto Square, 10th Floor 13 Palo Alto, CA 94306 Tel.: 650-632-4700 14 15 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP PHYLLIS A. JONES, pro hac vice 16 pajones@cov.com PAUL W. SCHMIDT, pro hac vice 17 pschmidt@cov.com 18 MICHAEL X. IMBROSCIO, pro hac vice forthcoming 19 mimbroscio@cov.com One City Center 20 850 Tenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 21 Tel.: 202-662-6000 22 Attorneys for Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc.; 23 Facebook Holdings, LLC; Facebook Operations, LLC; Facebook Payments, Inc.; Facebook 24 Technologies, LLC; Instagram, LLC; and Siculus, Inc. 25 26 27 28 5 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Jonathan H. Blavin 4 Jonathan H. Blavin 5 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP JONATHAN H. BLAVIN, SBN 230269 6 jonathan.blavin@mto.com 7 560 Mission Street, 27th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105-3089 8 Tel.: 415-512-4000 9 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP ROSE L. EHLER, SBN 29652 10 Rose.Ehler@mto.com 11 VICTORIA A. DEGTYAREVA, SBN 284199 Victoria.Degtyareva@mto.com 12 ARIEL T. TESHUVA, SBN 324238 Ariel.Teshuva@mto.com 13 350 South Grand Avenue, 50th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90071-3426 14 Tel.: 213-683-9100 15 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP 16 LAUREN A. BELL, pro hac vice forthcoming 17 Lauren.Bell@mto.com 18 601 Massachusetts Ave., NW St. Suite 500 E 19 Washington, D.C. 20001-5369 Tel.: 202-220-1100 20 Attorneys for Defendant Snap Inc. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 6 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 KING & SPALDING LLP 2 3 4 By: /s/ Matthew J. Blaschke Matthew J. Blaschke 5 KING & SPALDING LLP 6 MATTHEW J. BLASCHKE, SBN 281938 7 mblaschke@kslaw.com BAILEY J. LANGNER, SBN 307753 8 blangner@kslaw.com 50 California Street, Suite 3300 9 San Francisco, CA 9411l Tel.: 415-318-1200 10 11 KING & SPALDING LLP ALBERT Q. GIANG, SBN 224332 12 agiang@kslaw.com 633 West Fifth Street, Suite 1600 13 Los Angeles, CA 90071 14 Tel.: 213-443-4310 15 KING & SPALDING LLP GEOFFREY DRAKE, pro hac vice 16 pending gdrake@kslaw.com 17 1180 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 1600 18 Atlanta, GA 30309 Tel.: 404-572-4600 19 20 DATED: July 19, 2023 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP 21 22 By: /s/ Tarifa B. Laddon 23 Tarifa B. Laddon 24 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP 25 TARIFA B. LADDON, SBN 240419 26 tarifa.laddon@faegredrinker.com DAVID P. KOLLER, SBN 328633 27 david.koller@faegredrinker.com 28 7 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 1800 Century Park East, Suite 1500 Los Angeles, CA 90067 2 Tel.: 310-203-4000 3 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE 4 & REATH LLP ANDREA R. PIERSON, pro hac vice 5 andrea.pierson@faegredrinker.com 300 N. Meridian Street, Suite 2500 6 Indianapolis, IN 46204 7 Tel: 317-237-1424 8 Attorneys for Defendants TikTok Inc. and ByteDance Inc. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Christopher C. Chiou 4 Christopher C. Chiou 5 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP 6 CHRISTOPHER C. CHIOU, SBN 7 233587 cchiou@wsgr.com 8 SAMANTHA MACHOCK, SBN 298852 smachock@wsgr.com 9 633 W 5th St, Ste 1550 Los Angeles, CA 90071-3543 10 Tel.: 323-210-2900 11 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI 12 LLP LAUREN WHITE, SBN 309075 13 lwhite@wsgr.com One Market Plaza, Spear Tower, Suite 3300 14 San Francisco, CA 94105 15 Tel.: 415-947-2000 16 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP 17 BRIAN M. WILLEN, pro hac vice 18 forthcoming bwillen@wsgr.com 19 1301 Avenue of the Americas, 40th Floor New York, New York 10019 20 Tel.: 212-999-5800 21 Attorneys for Defendants YouTube, LLC, Google 22 LLC, Alphabet Inc. 23 24 25 26 27 28 9 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Joseph G. Petrosinelli 4 Joseph G. Petrosinelli 5 WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP JOSEPH G. PETROSINELLI, pro hac vice 6 application forthcoming 7 jpetrosinelli@wc.com ASHLEY W. HARDIN, pro hac vice application 8 forthcoming ahardin@wc.com 9 680 Maine Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20024 10 Tel.: (202) 434-5000 11 Attorneys for Defendants YouTube, LLC, Google 12 LLC, Alphabet Inc. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 10 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 2 Defendants move to seal several narrow pieces of information, identified in the attached 3 Proposed Order, in filings related to the Parties’ Joint Statement Regarding Preservation of CSAM- 4 Related Information for Accounts Identified on Plaintiff User Account Preservation Form. This 5 information is non-public and would, if publicly revealed, provide online predators and other bad actors 6 with insights into Defendants’ child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”) detection, reporting, and 7 prevention capabilities—potentially enabling bad actors to avoid detection. 8 I. LEGAL STANDARD 9 To seal judicial records, the Rules of Court generally require express factual findings that an 10 “overriding interest . . . overcomes the right of public access to the record.” Cal. R. Ct. 2.550(d)(1); see 11 id. 2.550(d) (requiring a finding that a “substantial probability exists that the overriding interest will be 12 prejudiced if the record is not sealed” and the sealing is “narrowly tailored”). But that requirement 13 “do[es] not apply to discovery motions and records filed or lodged in connection with discovery motions 14 or proceedings.” Id. 2.550(a)(3); see also id. (explaining that the Rule applies to discovery materials 15 “used at trial or submitted as a basis for adjudication of matters other than discovery motions or 16 proceedings”). The Court of Appeal has construed “discovery motions and proceedings” for purposes of 17 the sealing rules to encompass all discovery disputes except “question[s that are] not merely ancillary or 18 preliminary to some larger litigation but [are] the whole end and purpose of the case.” H.B. Fuller Co. 19 v. Doe, 151 Cal. App. 4th 879, 893 (2007). “The discovery process, which is intended to be largely self- 20 enforcing, would be greatly impeded if every document a party might produce was ipso facto open to 21 public inspection . . . . It is therefore eminently sound to exempt discovered material from the 22 presumptive right of public access[.]” Id.1 23 24 1 Plaintiffs have previously argued that this standard applies only to the motions listed in Rule 3.1345. See Opposition to Defendants’ June 9, 2023 Motion to Seal at 3. But Rule 3.145 does not set out a 25 comprehensive list of discovery motions; it simply lists motions requiring “a separate statement” 26 meeting certain specifications. In any event, neither Rule 3.1345 nor the sealing rules states or implies that the only motions that are “discovery motions and proceedings” under Rule 2.550(a)(3) are those 27 28 11 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 California courts have often looked to federal courts’ decisions when examining the principles 2 underlying the sealing analysis. See, e.g., id. at 887 (collecting federal cases). Federal law has carved 3 out an exception to the strong preference for public access for sealed materials attached to a discovery 4 motion unrelated to the merits of a case. Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 5 1097 (9th Cir. 2016). A party seeking to seal such materials must establish only “good cause” for 6 sealing, as opposed to “compelling reasons.” See, e.g., Calhoun v. Google LLC, 2022 WL 3348583, at 7 *1–2 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 12, 2022) (applying good-cause standard to filings related to preservation 8 disputes).2 But even when federal courts have applied the “compelling reasons” standard, they have 9 found it satisfied when information may be a vehicle for improper purposes, such as facilitating 10 exploitation by bad actors. See, e.g., Connor v. Quora, Inc., 2020 WL 6700473, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 11 13, 2020). 12 II. ARGUMENT 13 Defendants seek to seal several narrow pieces of non-public information about their CSAM 14 detection, reporting, and prevention capabilities, processes, and systems. 15 As explained above, express factual findings under the sealing rule are not required to seal non- 16 public information in Defendants’ declarations. See Cal. R. Ct. 2.550(a)(3) (“These rules do not apply 17 to discovery motions and records filed or lodged in connection with discovery motions or 18 proceedings.”). Although the relief that Plaintiffs seek is a mandatory injunction to require Defendants 19 to create new information for purposes of this litigation, Plaintiffs have framed their motion in terms of 20 preservation of discoverable information and the case is still in a pre-discovery posture. The order they 21 seek would require Defendants to create and/or preserve information so that it is available to be obtained 22 in discovery. Creating or preserving this information is a discovery-related matter that is not subject to 23 24 listed in Rule 3.1345, and Plaintiffs point to no court that has taken that view. And when the Court of Appeal did elaborate on the meaning of the phrase “discovery motions and proceedings,” it did so 25 without reference to Rule 3.1345. H.B. Fuller Co., 151 Cal. App. 4th at 893. 2 26 For clarity, no factual findings are required under California law. Defendants’ reference to federal law’s lower standard for sealing discovery-related filings underscores that a lower standard is 27 appropriate here. 28 12 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 Rule 2.550’s fact-finding requirements, and for good reason: so that the Parties and Court can avoid the 2 “laborious collateral litigation to establish grounds for a sealing order.” H.B. Fuller Co., 151 Cal. App. 3 4th at 893. 4 Even if express factual findings under Rule 2.550(d) were required, it would still be appropriate 5 to seal this information. As explained in Defendants’ sealing declarations, submitted herewith, the 6 information that Defendants seek to seal is not revealed publicly. See Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 4; Baker 7 Sealing Decl. ¶ 2; Jain Sealing Decl. ¶ 3; Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶ 5; see, e.g., McGuan v. Endovascular 8 Techs., Inc., 182 Cal. App. 4th 974, 989 (2010) (affirming sealing of information that would “reveal the 9 business methods and processes Defendants have developed to comply with the requirement of very 10 technical FDA regulations”).3 11 Moreover, the information, if revealed publicly, would provide insights to online predators and 12 other bad actors that could enable them to avoid detection on Defendants’ services. Federal courts have 13 found compelling reasons to seal information when “court files might . . . become a vehicle for improper 14 purposes.” Kamakana v. City & Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1179 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Nixon 15 v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc. 435 U.S. 589, 598 (1978)). For example, courts have routinely sealed 16 information that could be used by bad actors to evade security systems. See, e.g., Connor, 2020 WL 17 6700473, at *2 (sealing information “that could be used by a bad actor to exploit and breach Quora’s 18 systems”); Adtrader, Inc. v. Google LLC, 2020 WL 6387381, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 24, 2020) (sealing 19 information that “could . . . alert[] individuals who seek to circumvent Google’s detection systems”); In 20 re Google Inc. Gmail Litig. 2014 WL 10537440, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 6, 2014) (sealing information 21 that “could lead to a breach in the security of the Gmail system”). They also have found compelling 22 reasons to seal material that “could put at risk the safety of one or more individuals if made public.” 23 24 25 3 Plaintiffs have previously argued that this non-public information is not sufficiently confidential to 26 warrant sealing because Defendants share it with NCMEC and each other. See Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ June 9, 2023 Motion to Seal at 2, 5. That is irrelevant: the risk from revealing this 27 information arises from public revelations that could provide insights to bad actors. 28 13 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 Campbell v. Grounds 2022 WL 14151744, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 24, 2022) (sealing witness name to 2 protect safety). 3 Similar overriding reasons justify sealing here. As Ravi Sinha—Meta’s Head of Child Safety 4 Policy and a former federal prosecutor focusing on child exploitation—explained, many online predators 5 are adversarial and highly sophisticated; they actively seek new ways to locate, contact, exploit, and 6 abuse minors, including by evading detection on online services. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 6; see also 7 Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶ 7 (testifying similarly on behalf of TikTok). Many of these predators share 8 information with each other, including creating and disseminating comprehensive guides on how to 9 locate, contact, exploit, and abuse minors, and how to evade detection. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 6; Gatlin 10 Sealing Decl. ¶ 7. The information that Defendants move to seal concerns their non-public CSAM 11 detection and reporting capabilities, processes, and systems. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶¶ 2–4; Baker Sealing 12 Decl. ¶ 3; Jain Sealing Decl. ¶ 3; Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶¶ 4–5. Revealing it could help bad actors evade 13 detection on Defendants’ services. Sinha Sealing Decl. ¶ 5; Baker Sealing Decl. ¶ 3; Jain Sealing Decl. 14 ¶ 4; Gatlin Sealing Decl. ¶ 6. As a result, there is an overriding interest in maintaining its 15 confidentiality. See, e.g., Adtrader, 2020 WL 6387381, at *2 (sealing information that could “alert[] 16 individuals who seek to circumvent Google’s detection systems”); Music Group Macao Com. Offshore 17 Limited v. Foote, 2015 WL 3993147 at *5 (N.D. Cal. June 30, 2015) (similar); In re Google Inc. Gmail 18 Litig., 2013 WL 5366963, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 25, 2013) (similar); see also Campbell, 2022 WL 19 14151744, at *1 (sealing material to protect individuals’ safety). 20 III. CONCLUSION 21 For the reasons set forth above, Defendants respectfully request that the Court order that the 22 material identified in the Proposed Order be sealed. 23 24 25 26 27 28 14 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Ashley M. Simonsen 4 Ashley M. Simonsen 5 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP ASHLEY M. SIMONSEN, SBN 275203 6 asimonsen@cov.com 7 ANSEL F. CARPENTER, SBN 338829 acarpenter@cov.com 8 1999 Avenue of the Stars Los Angeles, CA 90067 9 Tel.: 424-332-4800 10 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP 11 EMILY JOHNSON HENN, SBN 269482 ehenn@cov.com 12 3000 El Camino Real 5 Palo Alto Square, 10th Floor 13 Palo Alto, CA 94306 Tel.: 650-632-4700 14 15 COVINGTON & BURLING LLP PHYLLIS A. JONES, pro hac vice 16 pajones@cov.com PAUL W. SCHMIDT, pro hac vice 17 pschmidt@cov.com 18 MICHAEL X. IMBROSCIO, pro hac vice forthcoming 19 mimbroscio@cov.com One City Center 20 850 Tenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 21 Tel.: 202-662-6000 22 Attorneys for Defendants Meta Platforms, Inc.; 23 Facebook Holdings, LLC; Facebook Operations, LLC; Facebook Payments, Inc.; Facebook 24 Technologies, LLC; Instagram, LLC; and Siculus, Inc. 25 26 27 28 15 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Jonathan H. Blavin 4 Jonathan H. Blavin 5 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP JONATHAN H. BLAVIN, SBN 230269 6 jonathan.blavin@mto.com 7 560 Mission Street, 27th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105-3089 8 Tel.: 415-512-4000 9 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP ROSE L. EHLER, SBN 29652 10 Rose.Ehler@mto.com 11 VICTORIA A. DEGTYAREVA, SBN 284199 Victoria.Degtyareva@mto.com 12 ARIEL T. TESHUVA, SBN 324238 Ariel.Teshuva@mto.com 13 350 South Grand Avenue, 50th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90071-3426 14 Tel.: 213-683-9100 15 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP 16 LAUREN A. BELL, pro hac vice forthcoming 17 Lauren.Bell@mto.com 18 601 Massachusetts Ave., NW St. Suite 500 E 19 Washington, D.C. 20001-5369 Tel.: 202-220-1100 20 Attorneys for Defendant Snap Inc. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 16 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 KING & SPALDING LLP 2 3 4 By: /s/ Matthew J. Blaschke Matthew J. Blaschke 5 KING & SPALDING LLP 6 MATTHEW J. BLASCHKE, SBN 281938 7 mblaschke@kslaw.com BAILEY J. LANGNER, SBN 307753 8 blangner@kslaw.com 50 California Street, Suite 3300 9 San Francisco, CA 9411l Tel.: 415-318-1200 10 11 KING & SPALDING LLP ALBERT Q. GIANG, SBN 224332 12 agiang@kslaw.com 633 West Fifth Street, Suite 1600 13 Los Angeles, CA 90071 14 Tel.: 213-443-4310 15 KING & SPALDING LLP GEOFFREY DRAKE, pro hac vice 16 pending gdrake@kslaw.com 17 1180 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 1600 18 Atlanta, GA 30309 Tel.: 404-572-4600 19 20 DATED: July 19, 2023 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP 21 22 By: /s/ Tarifa B. Laddon 23 Tarifa B. Laddon 24 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP 25 TARIFA B. LADDON, SBN 240419 26 tarifa.laddon@faegredrinker.com DAVID P. KOLLER, SBN 328633 27 david.koller@faegredrinker.com 28 17 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 1800 Century Park East, Suite 1500 Los Angeles, CA 90067 2 Tel.: 310-203-4000 3 FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE 4 & REATH LLP ANDREA R. PIERSON, pro hac vice 5 andrea.pierson@faegredrinker.com 300 N. Meridian Street, Suite 2500 6 Indianapolis, IN 46204 7 Tel: 317-237-1424 8 Attorneys for Defendants TikTok Inc. and ByteDance Inc. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 18 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Christopher C. Chiou 4 Christopher C. Chiou 5 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP 6 CHRISTOPHER C. CHIOU, SBN 7 233587 cchiou@wsgr.com 8 SAMANTHA MACHOCK, SBN 298852 smachock@wsgr.com 9 633 W 5th St, Ste 1550 Los Angeles, CA 90071-3543 10 Tel.: 323-210-2900 11 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI 12 LLP LAUREN WHITE, SBN 309075 13 lwhite@wsgr.com One Market Plaza, Spear Tower, Suite 3300 14 San Francisco, CA 94105 15 Tel.: 415-947-2000 16 WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP 17 BRIAN M. WILLEN, pro hac vice 18 forthcoming bwillen@wsgr.com 19 1301 Avenue of the Americas, 40th Floor New York, New York 10019 20 Tel.: 212-999-5800 21 Attorneys for Defendants YouTube, LLC, Google 22 LLC, Alphabet Inc. 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION) 1 DATED: July 19, 2023 WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP 2 3 By: /s/ Joseph G. Petrosinelli 4 Joseph G. Petrosinelli 5 WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP JOSEPH G. PETROSINELLI, pro hac vice 6 application forthcoming 7 jpetrosinelli@wc.com ASHLEY W. HARDIN, pro hac vice application 8 forthcoming ahardin@wc.com 9 680 Maine Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20024 10 Tel.: (202) 434-5000 11 Attorneys for Defendants YouTube, LLC, Google 12 LLC, Alphabet Inc. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 20 DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO SEAL (JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING PRESERVATION OF CSAM-RELATED INFORMATION)