Lawsuit Claims Perplexity’s Incognito Mode Misleads Users
▼ Summary
– A lawsuit alleges Perplexity’s AI search engine shares entire user chat sessions with Google and Meta without user knowledge or consent.
– The complaint states this data sharing occurs for all users, including non-subscribers, whose full conversations may be accessible via shared URLs.
– It claims Perplexity’s “Incognito Mode” is ineffective, as chats and personally identifiable information like email addresses are still shared.
– The proposed class action alleges the company uses ad trackers from Google and Meta without disclosure, violating privacy laws.
– The lawsuit accuses Perplexity, Google, and Meta of profiting from seizing sensitive user data, including financial and health information.
A new class action lawsuit alleges that Perplexity’s AI search engine routinely transmits sensitive user conversations to major advertising platforms, contradicting its own privacy assurances. The complaint, filed this week, claims the company shares entire chat logs with Google and Meta regardless of a user’s subscription status or their use of a supposedly private Incognito Mode. This alleged practice raises serious questions about data security and user consent in the rapidly growing AI search sector.
The legal action, brought by an anonymous user, asserts that every prompt entered into Perplexity is shared. This includes not only the initial query but also any follow-up questions a user clicks on during a session. For individuals without a paid account, the situation appears even more concerning. The lawsuit states their opening prompts are transmitted alongside a unique URL, potentially granting third parties like Meta and Google access to the complete dialogue history.
A central allegation is that the platform’s Incognito Mode is a “sham.” According to the complaint, activating this feature fails to prevent conversations from being shared with the advertising giants. Even paying customers who enable Incognito Mode allegedly have their chats, email addresses, and other personal identifiers transmitted, allowing the recipients to link the data directly to individual users. This means personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive details regarding finances or health could be exposed without consent.
The plaintiff compares the integrated ad trackers to “browser-based wiretap technology,” enabling Google and Meta to monitor private interactions. The lawsuit accuses Perplexity of violating state and federal laws by not disclosing this data-sharing arrangement to its users. It targets all three companies, arguing they prioritize profit over user privacy rights by collecting vast amounts of sensitive information that individuals believed would remain confidential. The case underscores the ongoing tension between innovative AI services and the fundamental expectation of digital privacy.
(Source: Ars Technica)