San Diego sues AppLovin over explicit ads on kids’ devices, Bloomberg reports
San Diego County sued AppLovin, alleging it bypassed parental controls to serve explicit ads to children and harvested their data.Summary
San Diego County has sued mobile advertising company AppLovin in San Diego Superior Court, alleging it bypassed parental controls to serve ads for adult dating services, alcohol, vaping, and graphic sexual content in games played by children, according to Bloomberg. The complaint claims AppLovin collected sensitive data from children's devices even when parental controls and ad-tracking opt-outs were enabled, using fingerprinting to track children without parental consent and feeding the data into its AI advertising engine. Screenshots allegedly show sexualized AI chatbot ads and cannabis gummy ads on a device configured for a six-year-old with Google parental controls enabled. AppLovin's ad buyer policies bar ads to children and prohibit sexually explicit content, tobacco, and illegal drugs, and the company says it does not knowingly collect children's data. The suit is one of three filed by the county's new Consumer Fairness and Public Protection Unit, which also sued Roblox over child safety and Polymaker over 3D-printing materials. Separately, AppLovin faces a securities class action alleging it overstated AI model improvements and faced delays in its generative AI video tool, tied to two share price drops in July and August that erased more than $44bn in market value.
(Source：TNW)
