Meta Sued For Allegedly Tracking Android Users' Web Browsing

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Meta Sued For Allegedly Tracking Android Users' Web Browsing

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Meta was hit this week with a new privacy lawsuit for allegedly secretly tracking users' browsing activity on mobile websites that embed Meta's analytics pixel, and linking that activity to users' identities.

“Between September 2024 and at least June 2, 2025, Meta was exploiting a communication channel ... in the Android ecosystem to tie users’ browsing information to their persistent Facebook and Instagram profiles, rendering that browsing information completely non-anonymous and identifiable,” California resident Devin Rose alleges in a class-action complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The complaint came the same day that researchers published the report “Disclosure: Covert Web-to-App Tracking via Localhost on Android,” which said Meta exploited localhost -- a feature that allows software developers to test applications -- to capture Android users' mobile browsing data.

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Meta stopped the covert tracking the day the report came out, researchers said Tuesday in an update to the report.

Rose alleges that he visited mobile sites with Meta's pixel, including techcrunch.com and wired.com, and that everything he did on those sites -- including the articles he viewed, and searches he conducted -- was collected by Meta and tied to his identity.

“Meta compiled all of this information to create a comprehensive profile of plaintiff in its databases, which was used for advertising,” the complaint alleges.

The complaint includes claims that Meta violated a California wiretapping law, and engaged in “intrusion upon seclusion” -- a claim that can be brought in California over “highly offensive” privacy violations.

Meta has not yet responded to MediaPost's request for comment.

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June 6, 2025 at 04:26PM