The Docket: May 7th 2026
Fraud, fines, and platforms playing dirty: Court's in session
Each week we bring you The Docket: Lawsuits of the week.
Amazon went on offense this week, suing a Telegram-based fraud network called RBK that allegedly ran a $4M+ refund scam—using fabricated police reports to convince Amazon customer service that packages never arrived, then issuing refunds on graphics cards, laptops, and drones that had been delivered. RBK reportedly charged clients up to 30% of the refund value and operated with over 1,000 Telegram subscribers in the mix.
Google, Meta, and Apple are asking the 9th Circuit to reverse a district court ruling that Section 230 doesn't protect payment processing—which would otherwise expose them to liability for facilitating online gambling through in-app purchases of virtual casino currency. The lower court held that processing payments is a generic commercial act, not a publishing function, and therefore falls outside Section 230's shield. The platforms want that reasoning overturned.
Temu is the subject of a California class action alleging the company systematically deployed deceptive email tactics—fake subject lines, falsified sender information, and spoofed domains—to drive opens on commercial messages. The complaint pegs Temu's spam volume at 10,000+ emails annually to California residents alone, a figure that's almost certainly conservative.
Google is staring down up to $218B in mass arbitration claims from advertisers following federal rulings that it illegally dominated both the search and ad tech markets. The first wave of claims is expected this week. Mass arbitration—which pools 25 or more claims—historically generates more settlement pressure than individual filings, so Google's exposure here is real.
Shein and Temu are facing class actions accusing both companies of hiking prices as much as 377% to absorb tariffs that were subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court—then pocketing the surplus rather than passing savings back to customers. The suits land amid a broader litigation wave targeting retailers including Costco, Lululemon, and EssilorLuxottica, following a court order requiring Customs and Border Protection to refund $166B in now-void tariff collections.
Amazon is the target of a proposed class action from two former employees alleging the company systematically underpaid women by slotting their roles into lower-wage "non-tech" job classifications—even when the work was functionally identical to that of higher-paid male peers. The complaint tracks closely with a 2023 suit from Amazon's Worldwide Communications team that survived a dismissal bid last year and remains active.
Amazon is also facing a separate proposed class action alleging it deliberately degraded early-generation Fire TV Stick devices before they reached the end of their natural useful life. Expect a similar Kindle suit to follow—the pattern is the same.
Aptoide, a Lisbon-based alternative app store, has filed suit against Google alleging anticompetitive suppression of third-party stores on Android, seeking injunctive relief and unspecified damages. The case follows Aptoide's 2014 EU antitrust complaint and arrives just after Google settled with Epic Games, cutting Play Store commissions to 20% and signaling openness to third-party sideloading.
