• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 17, 2025

Meta Platforms has been hit with a new privacy lawsuit for allegedly collecting location data about Facebook users via tracking software embedded in “thousands” of mobile apps.

“Through the use of its spyware, Facebook monitors, tracks, and identifies consumers in real time,” California resident Lisa Tsering alleges in a class-action complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

She alleges that Facebook collects the data through a software development kit that allegedly “enables backdoor access to consumers’ devices and opens a direct data collection pipeline” to the company.

“Facebook violates state law by surreptitiously acquiring and tracking consumers’ precise geolocation data and other data without authorization, aggregating it with other data points, and then monetizing the data,” the complaint alleges.

The complaint includes claims that Meta is violating a California anti-hacking law by accessing consumers' mobile computers without their permission, and is violating state restrictions on collecting metadata associated with electronic communications.

Tsering's suit comes around two weeks after a different California resident, Felix Kolotinsky, brought a similar lawsuit against Amazon.

Tsering's complaint alleges that the Facebook Audience Network software development kit receives precise latitude and longitude data, along with timestamps and unique device identifiers.

“Defendant collects sensitive information from consumers, including where they live, where they work, where they worship, where their children go to school or obtain child care, where they received medical treatment (potentially revealing the existence of medical conditions), whether they went to rallies, demonstrations, or protests (potentially revealing their political affiliations), and any other information that can be gleaned from tracking a person’s day-to-day movements,” the complaint asserts.

Tsering herself allegedly downloaded apps such as Candy Crush Saga, which contained Facebook's tracking code, and “routinely” traveled to locations she considers private, including home, work and medical appointments.

“At the time plaintiff Tsering downloaded the apps, she believed that the apps would not transfer her geolocation data to another entity for the purposes of monetizing said data,” her complaint alleges.

Meta was previously sued for allegedly collecting users' IP addresses, which provide general information about location, in violation of a prior privacy policy.

The company agreed in 2022 to pay $37.5 million to settle that matter.