OpenAI Sued for Allegedly Sharing User Data from ChatGPT With Google, Meta
The complaint seeks injunctive relief and statutory damages of ₹5,000 per violation under California Penal Code Section 637.2.
OpenAI is facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States alleging that the company secretly embedded tracking technology into the ChatGPT website that automatically transmitted users' private conversations and personal information to Meta and Google without their knowledge or consent.
The complaint was filed by California resident Amargo Couture on behalf of all US users who have entered queries into ChatGPT.com, and alleges that OpenAI disclosed users' chat topics, identifiers, and contact details to Meta and Google in violation of the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, California's Invasion of Privacy Act, and state constitutional privacy rights.
The mechanism alleged is specific. The suit claims OpenAI quietly wired the ChatGPT web interface with Meta's Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics, effectively turning sensitive chatbot conversations into monetisable tracking data for online advertising ecosystems. The Facebook Pixel code embedded in ChatGPT's web pages allegedly triggers silent, real-time requests to Facebook's servers every time a user interacts with the site, transmitting both content-derived context and cookies that can be tied back to a specific Facebook account. Google Analytics, the complaint alleges, enriches this data further with cross-device behaviour, demographic signals, and remarketing features.
The scale of potential exposure is significant. ChatGPT is routinely used to discuss sensitive and personal topics such as finances, health, and legal issues, with some estimates suggesting a significant portion of company data pasted into ChatGPT is confidential. The lawsuit argues that users had a reasonable expectation that these conversations would remain between themselves and OpenAI, not be routed to two of the world's largest advertising companies.
The complaint seeks injunctive relief and statutory damages of ₹5,000 per violation under California Penal Code Section 637.2 — a figure that, applied across millions of ChatGPT users, represents potential liability running into the billions. Meta and Google are not named as defendants; the suit targets only OpenAI as the party that incorporated the tracking technology into its platform.
This is one of the first federal class actions targeting AI chatbot data practices, though not the first of its kind. A nearly identical lawsuit was filed against Perplexity AI in early April, alleging the same Facebook Pixel and Google Double mechanism, and adding that Perplexity's Incognito mode did not stop the data flow.
The timing of the lawsuit is pointed. Both cases follow announcements in 2025 from Meta and OpenAI that they would use data from their AI products to inform advertising — a disclosure that, at the time, drew criticism from privacy advocates but did not immediately trigger legal action. That window appears to have closed.
OpenAI has not publicly responded to the specific allegations, and the case remains in its early stages. Whether the court grants class-action status will determine the breadth of the case. If it does, the litigation could set a significant precedent for how AI companies are permitted to handle user data, and how much of that data's onward journey they are required to disclose at the point of collection — a question the AI industry has, until now, largely been able to sidestep.
Published By : Shubham Verma
Published On: 14 May 2026 at 18:58 IST