Facebook Parent Sued Over 'Secret Work-Around' To Bypass Apple's Privacy Rules And Spy On Users

Meta Platforms Inc. META is being sued for coming up with a workaround to Apple Inc.’s AAPL privacy protection safeguards put in place in 2021, Bloomberg reported.

What Happened: Two of Meta-owned Facebook’s users have filed a class-action lawsuit in the San Francisco federal court, alleging that the company built a “secret work-around” to get through the defenses of Apple’s 2021 privacy rules, the report said.

Meta’s actions also violated state and federal laws that limit the unauthorized collection of personal data, the plaintiffs reportedly said in the complaint.

See Also: Apple's Latest iPhone Ad Beefs Up Its Privacy Savior Image...Yet Again

The lawsuit was based on the findings by data privacy researcher Felix Krause that said “the iOS Instagram and Facebook app render all third party links and ads within their app using a custom in-app browser.”

"The host app will then be able to track every single interaction with external websites from all form inputs such as passwords and addresses at every single tap," he added.

Apple’s “App Tracking Transparency” introduced with iOS 14.5 in 2021 requires all third-party apps to get consent from users before tracking their online or offline activities. These privacy changes cost Meta about $10 billion in revenues in the first year of implementation, the company had previously said.

Price Action: Meta closed Wednesday's session down % at $, according to Benzinga Pro data.