• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

A federal judge has thrown out a class-action privacy complaint claiming that Meta Platforms wrongly collected location data about Facebook users via tracking software embedded in mobile apps.

In a decision issued Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco ruled that the allegations against Meta, even if proven true, would not establish that the company knew it lacked users' permission to collect location information.

"The mere receipt of allegedly sensitive user information does not plausibly suggest that the recipient would (or should) know that such information was received without consent," Lin wrote in the dismissal order.

The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs can't amend their allegations and bring them again.

Lin's ruling came in a lawsuit brought in February 2025 by California resident Lisa Tsering, who alleged that Meta receives precise geolocation data from apps that use the Facebook Audience Network software development kit. A second plaintiff, Dominique Davis, later joined in the case.

Both plaintiffs alleged that they downloaded apps that embedded the Facebook Audience Network software development kit, and did not consent to share geolocation data with Meta or any third party for advertising purposes.

Their complaint included claims that Meta violated California privacy laws and a state anti-hacking statute.

Lin previously dismissed the complaint without prejudice -- a move that allowed the plaintiffs to revise their allegations and refile their claims.

In March, Tsering and Davis did so, alleging in an amended complaint that Meta was "willfully blind" regarding users' consent, adding that it should have reviewed outside app developers' privacy policies "to ensure proper disclosures were made."

Lin rejected that theory, writing: "The complaint’s allegations do not support a plausible inference (a) that Meta subjectively believed that geolocation data was being collected without users’ consent and (b) that Meta’s failure to investigate the privacy policies of third-party developers was motivated by a desire to avoid learning whether users consented, as is required for willful blindness."