America’s next privacy laws—both federal and at the state level—are being decided over if individuals can sue companies for misusing their data.

Why? Because of a legal term called “private right of action” (PRA), a power that allows consumers the ability to take companies to court for violating privacy laws via class-action lawsuits. Without it, enforcement is left to government regulators and attorneys, who are woefully underfunded and under-resourced.

It’s a tool consumer-interest groups consider vital, but Big Business calls costly and litigious, inviting trigger-happy ambulance chasers.

Big picture: Though privacy laws have gained steam over the last several years—five states have passed privacy laws since 2020, when the California Consumer Privacy Act went into effect—private right of action has become a hill that legislators are willing to die on, with implications for the future of federal privacy law, which nearly all sides agree is long overdue.

• This year, efforts to pass privacy legislation in Florida and Washington failed, largely because of PRA, according to Compliance Week.
• Of the states that have passed privacy laws, only California’s includes PRA, applicable only to data hacks or data breaches.
• In June, bipartisan federal legislators introduced a national privacy bill, called the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, that includes PRA.

Consumer-advocacy groups like Consumer Reports and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) have appeared before state and federal legislators to voice support for PRA.

“The industry knows that those government regulators have limited resources. They can’t go after every case; they can’t track what every company is doing,” Caitriona Fitzgerald, deputy director at EPIC, told Marketing Brew.

Biz says AGs > consumers

Pro-business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce, are—predictably—against PRA. The IAB and the ANA both told Marketing Brew that they don’t support it, though Lartease Tiffith, EVP for public policy at the IAB, said he’d be willing to compromise if a federal law was on the table. Tiffith previously worked on public policy at Amazon.

The State Privacy and Security Coalition, an organization with members including Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix, and Walmart, has been working across the country to water down privacy legislation, Protocol recently reported.

• “Our position on enforcement at the state level aligns with a widespread consensus—borne out by laws passed in Virginia, Utah, Colorado, and Connecticut—that state Attorneys General are in the best position to enforce privacy violations,” Andy Kingman, a lawyer representing the SPSC, wrote to Marketing Brew.

State of affairs: Virginia, which passed its privacy law in March 2021, did so without PRA. “It would have been the kill switch,” State Senator Dave Marsden (D-VA), who introduced the bill, told Marketing Brew.

Keep reading here.—RB

Pop quiz for all the influencer marketers in the room: When a creator submits content to you, which backdrop would you rather see? A) Their messy living room, B) A blank white wall or C) A breathtakingly beautiful ocean, mural, or monument?

Of course, every brand is different—if you’re selling white wall paint, feel free to stop reading. But we’re betting that most of you picked C.

That’s why travel influencer Emma Rose Leger and her co-founder Justin White created the Scout App.

• “In Miami, I was with a few girlfriends, and we were taking our photos and walking around the streets—in dresses and heels—for hours, trying to find cute backdrops to make our Instagram photos blow up on the internet,” Leger told us.
• At that moment, she realized there should be an easier way for creators to find shooting locations. “I’m wasting my time and wasting my money on Ubers—and that’s kind of how it stemmed,” Leger continued.

Here’s how it works: Anyone who downloads the (free) app can upload photos and videos and provide the coordinates for where each was shot. Other users interested in finding out where the content was shot have to “unlock” it for a $1.99 fee, then can access it via platforms like Google Maps or Apple Maps. Half of that $1.99 goes to the uploading creator.

By the numbers: As of June, more than 13,000 influencers had signed up for the app, which officially rolled out in May. Users can unlock more than 20,000 locations around the world—thanks, in part, to Leger’s creator friends who helped promote the app.

It’s still early days for the Scout App. But its founders say the app’s future could include a variety of brand-partnership formats, such as trading free unlocks with brand-ambassador programs, or giving marketers discounted Scout App fees to offer their favorite influencers.

Read the full story here.—PB

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Seasonal: Summer’s right around the corner. Here are the hottest topics of the season on the Twitter timeline.

TikTok: Takeaways from some of the best brand collabs on the platform.

Swoosh: How Nike became a branding powerhouse over the past 50 years.

Right place, right time: Place ads in front of your target customers without them feeling like you’re tracking their every move. StackAdapt’s new ebook explains how contextual advertising can increase user engagement. Read it here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Looking for a new marketing job? Check out the Marketing Brew Job Board to find the best opportunities in the industry.

Today’s featured openings:

• Account Executive at PPK
• Performance Marketer at NDVR
• Marketing Manager at SUNY Geneseo

See more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

Morning Consult released its annual Most Trusted Brands report yesterday. Here’s who came out on top in the US.

Keep it clean: Band-Aid, Lysol, and Clorox are the most trusted brands in the country, indicating that, in the third year of the pandemic, American consumers still most trust the brands that have contributed to their personal well-being, according to Morning Consult.

Pandemic darlings: Outside of health and wellness brands, UPS and The Home Depot also landed spots in the top 10, at No. 4 and No. 10, respectively.

“UPS delivers merchandise as consumers continue to avoid brick-and-mortar store visits, while Home Depot remains one of the go-to retailers for home renovations,” wrote Morning Consult’s associate VP of industry analysis Joanna Piacenza and managing director of industry analysis Amy He, the authors of the report.

Round it out: CVS, Visa, Cheerios, The Weather Channel, and Colgate took spots five through nine, in that order.

It is officially #RichGirl summer and Money with Katie is here to help you manifest your financial freedom.

This is not your average personal finance newsletter. Katie Gatti, the author of our Money with Katie newsletter, is obsessed with personal finance—specifically, the loopholes, nuances, and big questions that traditional advice tends to lack. Her weekly newsletter takes a spicy approach to spending habits, investing best practices, and tax strategies.

It’s time to start living your best financial life. Subscribe for free today!

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Yes, advertising students are working on Web3
• How Netflix and Giant Spoon turned the Empire State Building ‘Upside Down’
• While some agencies speak out, their clients are mostly silent on abortion