BARE BONES BRIEFS: Facebook withdraws targeted ads that revealed woman’s pregnancy | Lawyer fined for AI misuse | Massive penalties for tax advisors who facilitate non-compliance | Tax crackdown on lawyers follows AML crackdown | China hit with $24B judgment for unleashing COVID-19 | Arbitration Place opens in Miami

By Julius Melnitzer | March 27, 2025

FACEBOOK CAVES ON TARGETED ADS

Faced with a landmark lawsuit alleging that its targeted ads offended privacy laws, Facebook has agreed to stop personalized ads aimed at a UK woman. Tanya O’Carroll, an expert in tech policy and human rights, first took offence in 2017 when she became pregnant. The ads, she told the BBC, “suddenly started changing” to ads about babies and pregnancy and motherhood: “I just found it unnerving – this was before I’d even told people in my private life, and yet Facebook had already determined that I was pregnant.”

Related Article: GDPR Impact

Tax crackdown on lawyers follows AML crackdown

The UK government has proposed the enactment of fines for lawyers and other advisers who “undermine the tax system”, which The Law Society Gazette says “could run into millions of pounds”. The proposal includes new powers for revenue authorities to obtain information from professional tax advisers and to reveal the names of offenders. The government claims that advice facilitating non-compliance has caused a “tax gap” of 4.8%, amounting to some C$75 billion in 2022-23. The initiative follows on a widely-publicized anti-money laundering crackdown on lawyers in recent months.

Related Article: ALM crackdown on lawyers continues

FILING HALLUCINATORY AI PRECEDENTS COSTS LAWYER $15,000

Judge Mark Dinsmore of the Southern District of Miami has recommended that Texas-based lawyer Rafael Ramirez be fined $15,000 for filing fictitious AI-generated precedents. By way of mitigation, Ramirez said he didn’t know “AI was capable of generating fictitious cases and citations”. But in imposing sanctions he acknowledged were “at the higher end” for such conduct, Dinsmore said that Ramirez’ professed ignorance was evidence that “lesser sanctions have been insufficient to deter the conduct”.

RELATED ARTICLE: Caseway AI legal research tool eliminates “hallucinations”

MISSOURI SECURES HISTORIC JUDGEMENT AGAINST CHINA

Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri has secured a US$24 billion judgement against the Chinese Communist Party for foisting the pandemic on the world. Bailey intends to enlist Donald Trump’s assistance in identifying and seizing Chinese assets to satisfy the judgment. The defendants, however, don’t seem too worried: maybe that’s why they didn’t bother to show up in court to dispute the allegations.

Related Article: COVID inventory losses not insured: OCA

ARBITRATION PLACE PARTNERS WITH JAMS TO OPEN IN MIAMI

A strategic collaboration with JAMS has allowed Toronto-based Arbitration Place (AP) to offer access to arbitration and mediation hearing facilities and related integrated services in Miami to non-JAM proceedings at the newly-opened JAMS Resolution Center. Proceedings hosted by will be separate and confidential from JAMS.

Related Article: Arbitration Place takes Manhattan, turns pandemic on its head

Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at [email protected] or on his website.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com