Perplexity AI has been accused of sharing user data with major tech companies – Google and Meta without proper consent. According to a report by Bloomberg, a lawsuit has been filed against Perplexity AI, led by CEO Aravind Srinivas accusing the company of allowing third-party trackers to access sensitive user information.
The case has been filed on behalf of a user identified as John Doe, who said he shared personal financial details including his family’s finances, his tax obligations, his investment portfolio and strategies with Perplexity’s chatbot.
What the lawsuit alleges
Filed in a federal court in San Francisco on March 31, the proposed class-action complaint claims that as soon as users log into Perplexity’s home page, trackers are downloaded onto their devices, giving Meta and Google full access to the conversations between them and Perplexity’s AI Machine search engine.
Users’ personal data is shared even when they sign up for Perplexity’s “Incognito” mode, the lawsuit further alleges.
As per the report, the proposed class-action lawsuit claims that trackers are installed on users’ devices when they log into Perplexity’s website. These trackers allegedly allow Meta and Google to access conversations between users and the AI chatbot. The complaint states that this data could be used for targeted advertising or shared with other parties.
Companies respond to allegations
Perplexity said it has not received any lawsuit matching the description and could not verify the claims. “We have not been served any lawsuit that matches this description so we are unable to verify its existence or claims,” said Jesse Dwyer, a Perplexity spokesperson as quoted in the Bloomberg report.Meta pointed to its policies, stating that advertisers are not allowed to send sensitive information to the company.
