Lawsuit accuses U.S. ad tech giant AppLovin of tracking millions of Dutch people

A Dutch privacy-claim foundation has launched a mass lawsuit against the U.S. tech company AppLovin over the alleged illegal tracking of millions of people in the Netherlands through software embedded in popular apps and games and is also demanding sweeping compensation for an estimated 8.5 million affected users, including about 1.5 million children. The company reportedly brought in 5.5 billion dollars in revenue last year from its tracking software.

The foundation, The Privacy Collective, says tracking software is used to collect personal data without adequate disclosure and to build detailed user profiles for advertising purposes. It alleges that the data is then sold and shared with hundreds of other companies. The tracking code is reportedly embedded in a wide variety of apps, including resale marketplace Vinted, video editing software CapCut, and popular games such as Block Blast, Subway Surfers, and Helix Jump. According to the claim, users who download these apps are not properly informed that AppLovin uses their data for profiling and commercial targeting.

The Privacy Collective argues that the practices violate European privacy rules. It is seeking 500 euros in compensation per affected adult and 1,500 euros per child. The total damages, however, could reach billions of euros, the foundation estimates.

The group, supported by the digital rights organization Bits of Freedom and the human rights group Amnesty International, has now formally served its summons and says that affected individuals can begin registering as of Thursday.

“Because children are now tracked at an increasingly young age, it makes them uniquely vulnerable to economic exploitation,” wrote Amnesty Netherlands Director Dagmar Oudshoorn.

“This lawsuit has a clear goal, namely, to protect and strengthen fundamental rights such as privacy, autonomy, and human dignity. The digital advertising and tracking industry is violating these rights structurally and on a large scale. It is unacceptable that this business model operates at the expense of citizens, and particularly at the expense of minors.”

The lawsuit is likely to face a lengthy legal process. The Privacy Collective previously announced a privacy claim in 2020 against tech companies Salesforce and Oracle. That case is still ongoing and currently centers on whether the foundation is legally admissible, with proceedings now before the Dutch Supreme Court.