Users of the social media platform Facebook have reportedly filed a lawsuit against its parent firm Meta, alleging that the social media site tracks iOS users’ behavior through a workaround, despite Apple's significant privacy update to iOS last year making it considerably harder for applications to follow user behavior outside their own boundaries.
The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that Meta bypassed Apple's strict guidelines by monitoring users via Facebook's in-app browser, which opens hyperlinks within the app.
Anyone who is impacted by the potential class-action suit may be able to sign on, which for Facebook includes millions of American users.
In the suit, two users have claimed that Meta is violating Apple's guidelines and both the state and federal privacy regulations, along with the Wiretap Act, which makes it illegal to monitor digital communications without approval. Last week, a similar suit (Mitchell v. Meta Platforms Inc.) was filed.
According to the plaintiffs, Meta tracks users' online activity by directing them to Facebook's in-app browser and embedding JavaScript into the websites they visit. This enables the firm to track every interaction, tap, text, and password of the user.
In April 2021, Apple released iOS 14.5, delivering a severe blow to social network firms like Meta that rely on user activity tracking for advertising.
In its earnings calls, the company notably mentioned the iOS changes as it prepared investors to accept the new normal for its advertising targeting operations, calling Apple's privacy improvements a headwind that it would have to fight.
Apple's latest iOS privacy question asks users if they want their activities tracked across other firms' websites and apps. Although the firm would undoubtedly claim the opposite, individuals who opt out might plausibly feel they are on a third-party web browser when clicking links on Instagram or Facebook.
Source credit: https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/22/meta-lawsuit-ios-privacy/