The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' April 18th, 2022 opinion was very favorable for webscraping companies and their clients.

We can't claim to know, but we can speculate. Below are several authorities that might challenge data providers in 2022.

At Neudata’s recent live mock audit with Adam Storch of the SEC, Adam suggested that while he could not provide conclusive answers to many of the compliance concerns that buyers share, his body language, tone, and other physical signals would provide insight into his views. So, we’ve listened to Adam and studied the footage of the event to come up with the following analysis of those signals. This analysis is highly speculative and reflects our impressions rather than any advice with respect to particular facts or circumstances. References to Adam (or “the examiner”) in this report are made with respect to his character during the mock audit – not the views of the SEC.

We are receiving more questions around this issue, as companies look to comply with the FCPA, sanctions on Russia, and mitigate reputational risk.

App usage data vendors and other vendors that scrape or automate online data collection are now citing several forms of “emulation” as their sourcing method. Emulation is not new; however, we believe that many buyers do not ask about it or uncover it during their diligence process. Whether it impacts data quality or raises a new compliance risk, buyers need to understand emulation and consider it in data sourcing.

We suggest that buyers consider categorising information sources by risk, rather than focusing on whether they are “alternative.”

We consider it critically important that regulated buyers monitor their data vendors on an ongoing basis. Anecdotally we have heard that the SEC takes this view, particularly with respect to tracking vendor litigation. Recently, a member of the SEC Examinations team expressed a similar opinion at Neudata’s Winter Summit. We believe that a shift to events-based diligence, rather than diligence solely around contract signatures and renewals, is necessary to mitigate risk in the current environment.

We were comforted to hear a perspective that we consider consistent with the buy-side community’s long-standing diligence and contracting practices for onboarding alternative data. 

Yes, vendors are just beginning to feel the impact of the new law, which requires coordination with and disclosures to local government (anecdotally, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology). 

Despite widespread enthusiasm for transparency and compliance in 2021, some popular vendors are still keeping their cards close to their vests.