X Corp (formerly Twitter) sued in Netherlands over privacy issues

• Twitter (now X Corp) used to own MoPub.
• MoPub is a mobile ad platform.
• The platform was sold to AppLovin at the start of 2022.

The company formerly known as Twitter (now X Corp) is facing a class action lawsuit  over “illegal tracking” of millions of app users’ personal data using, MoPub, the ad platform it used to own.

Although the company sold MoPub to AppLovin in 2022, it was the owner and operator of the mobile adtech during the period the litigation targets.

The lawsuit alleges MoPub unlawfully tracked app users, collecting users’ data as they interacted with third-party software, and then sharing what could be sensitive personal data with other companies without the users’ knowledge or opting into the tracking. The plaintiffs contend this was a clear violation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The litigation is being brought by a not-for-profit data protection foundation, called Stitching Data Bescherming Nederland, (SDBN) and summons were issued at a court in Rotterdam.

Netherlands brought in a new opt-out class action regime when it started implementing EU’s directive on collective redress. As such, more privacy suits are likely to follow in the country as there are already other class action lawsuits in the country against Meta, Google and Amazon.