Observed Signal · Apr 11, 2026 · Lawsuit · Source: t3n · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Class Action Says Perplexity Shared Chats with Meta, Google
A class-action lawsuit accuses AI search/chat startup Perplexity of forwarding millions of user chat logs — including sensitive finance, health and legal information — to Meta and Google, allegedly even when users were in Incognito mode. The complaint covers chats from December 2022 to February 2026 and claims trackers captured prompts, follow-up questions and full chat links, plus identifiers like email addresses. Plaintiffs seek statutory damages of more than $5,000 per violation and potential additional penalties. The filing also notes a pattern of legal disputes involving Perplexity, citing an October 2025 lawsuit from Reddit over alleged content scraping via third parties such as SerpApi. Meta and Perplexity have not made comprehensive public statements; Google said platforms are responsible for how they handle collected data.
Allegations of large-scale chat-data transfers to major ad platforms implicate user privacy, tracking infrastructure and potential regulatory and financial consequences for advertising ecosystems and AI-chat providers.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- A U.S. class-action lawsuit alleges Perplexity forwarded millions of chat transcripts to Meta and Google.
- The complaint claims transfers included sensitive topics (finance, health, legal) and affected logged-in and non-logged-in users.
- Alleged data collection period in the suit spans December 2022 to February 2026.
- Plaintiffs seek statutory damages exceeding $5,000 per violation and possible additional penalties or restitution.
- Trackers named in the complaint include Meta Pixel, Google Ads and DoubleClick; the suit alleges Incognito mode did not prevent data sharing.
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Perplexity accused of sharing millions of chats with Meta, Google
A class-action lawsuit alleges that Perplexity transmitted millions of chat transcripts — including sensitive health, finance and legal conversations — to Meta and Google via integrated advertising trackers, even when users used incognito mode. The complaint (covering December 2022–February 2026) claims trackers such as Meta Pixel, Google Ads and DoubleClick captured prompts, follow-up questions and full chat links, and that Perplexity sometimes sent incognito sessions together with email addresses and other identifiers. Plaintiffs seek damages of more than $5,000 per violation. Google has said platforms are responsible for how they handle collected data; Meta and Perplexity have not issued comprehensive responses. The case follows other legal disputes involving Perplexity, including an October 2025 Reddit suit alleging content scraping via third parties like SerpApi.
Reddit Sues Perplexity for Content Theft
Reddit filed a lawsuit alleging illegal scraping of Reddit and Google content by Perplexity and a group of scraper firms (Oxylabs UAB, AWMProxy, SerpApi) to power AI answers and related services, with the data later sold to third parties. Reddit claims Perplexity is involved with at least one defendant and accuses the firms of bypassing Reddit and Google controls to obtain copyrighted user content. The complaint states Reddit receives high millions of dollars from Google and OpenAI for data sharing and describes the data ecosystem as a key source for AI developers. The Information and Forbes are cited regarding connections between Perplexity, SerpApi, and scraped content, and Forbes alleges plagiarism by Perplexity in 2024. Perplexity denies the allegations and says it will vigorously defend user access to public knowledge. The case could set an important precedent for data rights and AI training data governance in the digital ecosystem.
Amazon Sues Perplexity; Epic Settles with Google Over Fees
Amazon has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing Perplexity’s Comet AI of unlawfully accessing Amazon customer accounts and disguising bot activity as human interaction. Amazon requests that Perplexity block its Comet AI from shopping on Amazon, citing data and integrity risks. Epic Games and Google have proposed a settlement in their long-running antitrust dispute, expanding a prior injunction into a global framework through June 2032 that introduces Registered App Stores and reduced transaction fees. Google’s fees would drop to 20% or 9% depending on the transaction, with the option for developers using alternative payment methods to avoid Google’s billing fees. Separately, People Inc. (formerly Dotdash Meredith) signed an AI licensing deal with Microsoft to be a launch partner in Microsoft’s publisher content marketplace, described as a pay-per-use model to compensate publishers for AI content usage. Neil Vogel, CEO of People Inc., framed the arrangement as a strong endorsement of the publishing marketplace and AI value of content.
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