The opinion
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3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
5 SAN JOSE DIVISION
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7 RUMBLE CANADA, INC., Case No. 24-cv-02880-BLF
8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’
ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO FILE
9 v. UNDER SEAL EXHIBIT TO
DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS
10 GOOGLE LLC, et al., COMPLAINT
11 Defendants. [Re: ECF 18]
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13 Defendants have filed an administrative motion to seal material in the Network Bidding
14 Agreement (“NBA”) filed as an exhibit in support of Defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint.
15 See Admin. Mot. to File Under Seal, ECF 18. Specifically, Defendants seek leave to redact the
16 names and titles of non-party employees of Google and Facebook. See id. Plaintiff has stipulated
17 to the sealing of the non-party employees’ names and titles. See Joint Stipulation, ECF 18-4.
18 The NBA was filed as an exhibit to Defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint, a motion
19 going to the merits of Plaintiff’s claims. For that reason, the Court finds that the NBA is “more
20 than tangentially related to the merits of a case,” triggering application of the “compelling
21 reasons” standard rather than the lesser “good cause” standard. See Ctr. for Auto Safety v.
22 Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1101-02, 1097 (9th Cir. 2006). “Courts in this District
23 routinely find compelling reasons to seal personally-identifying information that has minimal
24 relevance to the underlying causes of action.” Stiner v. Brookdale Senior Living, Inc., No. 17-CV-
25 03962-HSG, 2022 WL 1180216, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 30, 2022). The Court finds that the names
26 and titles of non-party employees have minimal relevance to the underlying claims, and that those
27 employees’ privacy interests satisfy the compelling reasons standard here. Defendants’ sealing
1 employees, which amount to only a handful of words in the 48-page NBA. See Civ. L.R. 79-5(a)
2 || (requiring that sealing motions be narrowly tailored).
3 Accordingly, Defendants’ sealing motion is GRANTED as to the names and job titles of
4 || non-party employees highlighted in yellow at page 8, Section 1.61, Table 1 of the NBA submitted
5 with the sealing motion, and at p. 31 of the NBA submitted with the sealing motion.
6 IT IS SO ORDERED.
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8 Dated: August 6, 2024
°
BETH LABSON FREEMAN
10 United States District Judge
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