• by Wendy Davis , November 5, 2025

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit accusing Amazon's Audible of sharing information about users' audiobook browsing and listening with Meta Platforms, via its analytics pixel.

The order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Kymberly Evanson in Seattle, came in a lawsuit brought last December by California residents Gloria Crowell and Kevin Smith. They alleged in a class-action complaint that Audible violated California's wiretap law as well as the state's constitution, which enshrines a right to privacy.

Audible "intercepts and discloses to Facebook individual users’ personally identifiable information in the form of their Facebook account and the full title of the materials that individuals search for, listen to, and purchase on the Audible service," the duo alleged.

They added that Facebook can draw on the alleged disclosures to help Audible "launch marketing campaigns, target specific users with advertising, and analyze website users’ data."

Audible urged Evanson to dismiss the lawsuit at an early stage for several reasons. Among others, the company argued that Crowell and Kevin Smith couldn't proceed with claims that Audible violated California laws because its terms of use provided that Washington state laws would govern any disputes.

"Plaintiffs agreed to apply Washington, not California, law to any disputes with Audible," the company argued in papers filed in May. "They made this agreement when they signed into Audible and signed up for Audible plans."

Crowell and Smith countered that even though Audible's enrollment and log-in pages contained links to its terms of use, the format of those pages didn't justify the conclusion that subscribers agreed to apply Washington law to disputes. For instance, the plaintiffs argued in a court filing that the "conditions of use" link on Smith's enrollment page was "at least nine lines" removed from the sign-up button, and on the same page as information about prices and payment.

Evanson sided with Audible and dismissed the complaint last month. At the time, she said Crowell and Smith could amend their complaint and bring it again.

Late last week, the plaintiffs said in a court filing that they did not believe amendment would be feasible, and asked Evanson to dismiss the suit with prejudice so that they could appeal.

Evanson did so on Tuesday, clearing a path for Crowell and Smith to ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to revive their claims.