Meta can’t duck majority of Android advertising tracking claims
Meta can’t duck majority of Android advertising tracking claims
https://www.courthousenews.com/meta-cant-duck-majority-of-android-advertising-tracking-claims/
Publish Date: 2026-05-11 22:03:00
Source Domain: www.courthousenews.com
Android users accuse Meta of exploiting vulnerabilities in Android phones to link users’ browsing data to Meta accounts to create detailed advertising profiles.
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge ruled Monday that Meta must face claims brought by Android users who say the tech giant exploited vulnerabilities in Android smartphones to match users’ browsing activity to their Meta social media accounts in an attempt to create more detailed advertising profiles.
U.S. District Court Judge Rita Lin advanced the majority of the class action claiming Meta intentionally and secretly circumvented browser protections to better link users’ browsing behavior with their Meta accounts, which could be viewed as a “highly offensive intrusion” of their data privacy.
“From those allegations of secretive and evasive behavior that was surprising even to technical experts, it is reasonable to infer that plaintiffs did not give Meta permission to evade Android’s sandboxing in this way and that Meta knew it was acting without permission,” the Joe Biden appointee wrote in the 23-page ruling.
“There is a fundamental difference between using known functionality of a system in an unexpected way and employing subterfuge to exploit design flaws that are not broadly known,” she continued.
The judge also greenlit claims that Google breached its duty of care by designing Android with certain flaws that allowed Meta to exploit the operating system. However, she dismissed, with leave to amend, the plaintiffs’ claims of unjust enrichment and pen register against Meta and negligent misrepresentation against Google.
The plaintiffs have until June 1 to file an amended complaint.
Lead plaintiff Devin Rose filed the class action against Meta on June 2, 2025, the same day a group of internet security researchers disclosed that Meta had modified its tracking pixels to exploit a communication channel on Android devices typically used for making audio or video calls to tie users’…
