Perplexity hit with lawsuit over alleged sharing of user chats

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against AI search startup Perplexity over alleged large-scale privacy violations and unauthorized sharing of user data.

The company is accused of secretly transmitting user information to third parties for targeted advertising. According to the complaint, the data collection occurred continuously and without user consent. The lawsuit was filed by an anonymous user who reportedly relied on the AI service for financial and legal advice.

According to Ars Technica, the app allegedly includes hidden advertising tools from Google and Meta, which the plaintiff compares to wiretapping. If a user is logged in, advertising platforms may gain access to original prompts and subsequent interactions. For non-logged-in users, the complaint claims that entire chat histories could be accessible to third parties.

The lawsuit also alleges that the collected data may include personally identifiable information. The plaintiff further claims that tracking continued even when incognito mode was enabled, which is typically designed to provide enhanced privacy.

The complaint also criticizes Perplexity’s privacy disclosures. According to the filing, users are not required to explicitly agree to the privacy policy before using the service, and the document itself is difficult to locate in the web interface. The lawsuit also names Google and Meta, alleging that their tracking technologies were used in ways that violate their own policies.

Potential members of the class action include U.S. users whose conversations may have been intercepted between late 2022 and early 2026. The complaint suggests damages could exceed $5,000 per violation, with the total number of incidents potentially reaching millions.