Perplexity AI has been accused by users of violating privacy laws and sharing user information with Meta and Google.

According to Bloomberg, Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, has been hit with a class-action lawsuit by users who accuse it of secretly sharing personal information from user-platform dialogues with Meta and Google, allegedly violating California privacy laws. According to a proposed class-action complaint filed on Tuesday in the federal court in San Francisco, as soon as users log into the Perplexity homepage, trackers are automatically downloaded onto their devices, allowing Meta and Google full access to conversations between users and the Perplexity AI search engine. The plaintiffs claim that this enables the two tech giants to exploit this sensitive data for their own benefit, including targeted advertising toward individuals and reselling the data to more third parties. A spokesperson for Perplexity, Jesse Dwyer, stated that the company has not yet received any litigation documents matching the description, thus making it unable to verify its existence or related allegations. A Meta spokesperson noted that advertisers sending sensitive information to the company violates its policy.