Facebook is being sued for allegedly using a loophole to track user data on iOS

Last week, Bloomberg reported that two Facebook users filed a complaint against Meta Platforms Inc. at the San Francisco Federal Court.

Allegedly, Meta has built a workaround to monitor and collect data on Facebook and Instagram iOS apps despite Apple’s major privacy policy update, which was introduced in 2021 to protect iPhone users surfing the web without being tracked.

The loophole allegedly lies within the in-app feature for external browsing

According to the lawsuit, the loophole exists within the in-app feature found on Facebook and Instagram. Despite disallowing data monitoring and sharing to the company, Facebook and Instagram users apparently are still being traced when they use the in-app feature for surfing external links.

The lawsuit further claims that Meta has made use of this loophole for collecting data about what sites are visited and what the inputs of users are, including passwords and other sensitive information.

TechCrunch also reported on this development, and they cited the security researcher Felix Krause, who last month, first drew up concerns about this loophole. It is believed that the respective class action lawsuit is largely based on his findings.

Class action lawsuit

The complaint, enables any affected party to join in the lawsuit, in the case of Meta, specifically Facebook and Instagram, that could mean millions of people.

Last year, Apple introduced an update to their privacy settings making it harder for apps to collect user data beyond their borders. This was not good news for Meta and their ad targeting business which relies heavily on user data.

According to the new lawsuit, Meta has allegedly not only violated the App Tracking Transparency policy introduced last year by Apple Inc., but the loophole is also in violation of various U.S. state and federal laws including the Wiretap Act. This act made it illegal to intercept electronic messages without user consent.

In an email response to TechCrunch, a Meta Platforms Inc. spokesperson denied the allegations, describing them as ‘without merits’, adding ‘we have carefully designed our in-app browser to respect users’ privacy choices, including how data may be used for ads.’ Last but not least, the spokesman said the company ‘would defend itself vigorously'.

Sources used:

- Bloomberg: ‘Meta Sued for Skirting Apple Privacy Rules to Snoop on Users’

- TechCrunch: ‘Facebook users sue Meta, accusing the company of tracking on iOS through a loophole’

- Krausefx: ‘iOS Privacy: Instagram and Facebook can track anything you do on any website in their in-app browser’

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