Defending Privacy Across Borders: Public Interest Litigation in the Fight Against Data Exploitation

Abstract

This paper examines the pivotal role of public interest litigation in tackling the escalating issue of cross-border data exploitation. In an era where data flows freely across jurisdictions, multinational corporations often exploit legal loopholes to bypass accountability, posing serious risks to individual privacy and data security. Traditional legal avenues, while addressing personal grievances, often fall short of deterring large-scale abuses and do little to address the collective societal impacts that arise from widespread data misuse. Public interest litigation, however, enables individuals, civil society organizations, and advocacy groups to push for more extensive, structural changes that foster greater corporate accountability and compliance on a global scale. Through a thorough review of legal frameworks, real-world case studies, and the intricacies of international jurisdiction, this paper argues that public interest litigation is essential-not just as a complement to private enforcement but as a transformative tool for enforcing data protection laws and protecting collective digital rights. This analysis highlights the capacity of public interest litigation to prompt judicial activism and adapt to global digital challenges, marking it as a powerful pathway toward equitable data privacy protection.