AppLovin sued by San Diego County over alleged adult ads in kids’ apps
Key takeaways
- Complaint filed at San Diego Superior Court alleging AppLovin served adult ads in kids’ games
- Ads for dating, alcohol, vaping and sexual content shown on devices with parental controls enabled
- Screenshot: sexualised AI chatbot ad in a physics puzzle game on an Android set up as a six-year-old’s
- One of three suits filed Monday by the county’s new Consumer Fairness and Public Protection Unit
AppLovin faces a lawsuit filed at San Diego Superior Court after county prosecutors say the adtech firm delivered ads for dating services, alcohol, vaping and sexual content inside games played on devices with parental controls enabled. The complaint, reported by Bloomberg, accuses AppLovin of bypassing Apple and Google tracking limits to target children without parental consent and of collecting sensitive location and behavioural data from kids’ devices.
Screenshots attached to the filing include an ad for a sexualised AI chatbot inside a physics-based puzzle game running on an Android device set up as a six-year-old’s, and a cannabis gummies promotion shown on a device with the same Google parental controls. The suit also alleges that ads depicting sex acts, including bondage, appeared in apps labelled suitable for children. San Diego’s filing says the data collected was detailed enough to indicate where children live and go to school, and whether they were asleep.
AppLovin’s public policies ban collecting data from children or using its tech to target them with ads; Bloomberg notes the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit is one of three complaints filed Monday by San Diego County’s newly created Consumer Fairness and Public Protection Unit, which officials say was formed because federal consumer protection enforcement has been fading. One of the other suits targets Roblox over claims it doesn’t do enough to stop adults posing as children and contacting young players.
Why it matters
A prior SEC probe into AppLovin’s data collection practices began last year; CFO Matt Stumpf said on an August earnings call that the regulator closed that inquiry without recommending enforcement action. The concrete legal detail to watch here: San Diego’s new unit has opened multiple civil actions at once, and its filings pair graphic ad screenshots with allegations of targeted data harvesting on devices with parental controls enabled.
Original source
MobileGamer.biz
