A federal judge has struck down a New York City law mandating food delivery companies to share customer information with restaurants, deeming the regulation unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres issued her ruling on Tuesday, siding with major delivery platforms DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. She argued that the law infringed upon First Amendment rights by improperly regulating commercial speech.
Implemented in the summer of 2021, the law aimed to assist restaurants in recovering from the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It required delivery services to provide restaurants with sensitive customer information, including names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and details of their orders.
While the city maintained that the law was designed to protect restaurants from “exploitative practices,” it paused enforcement in light of the ongoing legal challenge from the delivery companies. The companies contended that the law violated customer privacy rights and jeopardized data security. They further argued that it could undermine their own business models by enabling restaurants to use the data for marketing purposes and potentially lure customers away.
Nicholas Paolucci, spokesperson for the city’s law department, stated that officials are currently reviewing the court’s ruling. In her decision, Judge Torres noted that the city failed to establish a compelling interest in compelling delivery companies to divulge customer information. She suggested less intrusive alternatives, such as allowing customers to opt-in to data sharing, providing financial incentives for data sharing, and subsidizing online ordering platforms for individual restaurants.
DoorDash welcomed the ruling, asserting it “rightly recognized how this law would have violated bedrock First Amendment rights” and emphasized its commitment to protecting the privacy of New Yorkers. Meanwhile, representatives from Uber Eats and Grubhub did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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