Meta Hit With Class Action Suit Over iOS Anti-Tracking Violations

Meta Hit With Class Action Suit Over iOS Anti-Tracking Violations

There are obvious ethical implications here, but more officially, Meta Pixel violates Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy. ATT requires that apps get permission from individual users before tracking them across sites owned by other companies—something Meta allegedly didn’t do.

Meta Hit With Class Action Suit Over iOS Anti-Tracking Violations

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by two Facebook users and first spotted by Bloomberg Law, alleges Meta knowingly dodged Apple’s ATT policy when it implemented and maintained Meta Pixel. “This allows Meta to intercept, monitor, and record its users’ interactions and communications with third parties, providing data to Meta that it aggregates, analyzes, and uses to boost its advertising revenue,” the lawsuit reads. This motion closely follows a similar class action suit filed last week (Mitchell v. Meta Platforms, Inc.), in which a user alleged Meta Pixel violates the Wiretap Act and other laws protecting individual privacy.

That the plaintiffs suspect Meta of having introduced Meta Pixel to boost ad revenue is no surprise: It takes a lot of time and money to build a custom in-app browser like Meta’s, and the company would have needed a pretty decent motive to dedicate those resources to the browser over literally anything else.

It’s also not particularly surprising that Meta Pixel exists in the first place. Beyond Meta’s (previously Facebook’s) lengthy history of privacy violations, the company has publicly opposed ATT from the start. Meta’s biggest criticism was that ATT would harm businesses (which, it must be noted, are essential to Meta’s aforementioned ad revenue). From the looks of it, it’s clear that Meta griped about ATT in public and found a way to skirt it in private.

Continue reading

Report: Apple Ignored its Partners’ Repeated Violations of Chinese Labor Laws
Report: Apple Ignored its Partners’ Repeated Violations of Chinese Labor Laws

Apple has reportedly turned a blind eye to repeated violations of Chinese labor law in its partners' factories over the past six years.

Apple Sued for Antitrust Violations With Apple Pay
Apple Sued for Antitrust Violations With Apple Pay

According to an antitrust lawsuit filed by Affinity Credit Union, Apple has abused its market position with Apple Pay to keep other companies out, earning fees on every tap-and-pay iPhone transaction.

Epic Games Fined $520M for Alleged Privacy Violations, Unwanted Charges
Epic Games Fined $520M for Alleged Privacy Violations, Unwanted Charges

According to the FTC, Epic violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and used dark patterns to manipulate users into making purchases they didn't really want.

Apple Blocks App That Detects Net Neutrality Violations
Apple Blocks App That Detects Net Neutrality Violations

The app is called Wehe, and it was designed to further research conducted by David Coffnes at Notheastern University.