Class Action Lawsuit Claims TripleLift Secretly Collects Consumer Data Online

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims that TripleLift, a programmatic advertising data broker, secretly surveils and collects consumer data online via its role in real-time ad space auctions and the deployment of pixels and cookies that build detailed profiles of web users.

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The 21-page privacy lawsuit contends that TripleLift neither asks for consent nor makes its presence known to users before it gathers personalized information based on internet activity to sell space for highly-targeted advertisements during a real-time online bidding process. This process involves the automated buying and selling of online ad space, and TripleLift promises its clients that it will provide the “most competitive price” for their ad inventory, the lawsuit says.

According to the case, in order to do business, TripleLift must collect information on online users, which it does by way of secret surveillance across thousands of websites and tags, pixels and cookies within its advertising platform.

“Through both mechanisms, TripleLift gathers sensitive personal information without users’ knowledge or consent, creating detailed profiles that it uses for commercial purposes,” the filing explains.

The suit adds that TripleLift’s online auctions happen for each individual user based on their specific web profile in milliseconds before a page loads, where the highest bidder wins the space to display their ad to the user.

Importantly, TripleLift’s occupancy on a publisher’s site also takes the form of pieces of code— such as tags, pixels, and cookies— which communicate and store specific site-visitor information such as IP address, page context, device signals and behavior patterns, the case relays. The lawsuit adds that the more detailed information these tools have on file, the more “commercially attractive” these ad spaces become for bidders who require this personal information to curate successful advertisements.

“Indeed, when [buyers] recognize a user through a synced identifier during an auction, they can instantly access its stored profile and bid strategically based on that user’s browsing history, interests, and past website interactions,” the complaint shares.

The case stresses that the entire real-time programmatic bidding process occurs without a user’s consent. When a user visits a digital page that relies on RTBs, TripleLift does not ever say what the process actually is, when it is happening, or give the opportunity for users to view their privacy policy, the case says.

Further, TripleLift’s data tracking is incredibly widespread but allegedly not transparent or encrypted, which can expose data to a number of hidden third parties without user knowledge, the lawsuit mentions. Because hundreds of corporations might participate in real-time bidding and access the personalized information stored by TripleLift, the case reiterates, “individuals whose personal data is shared with bidders face imminent risk that their data will be sold and misused.”

“Most users remain entirely unaware that TripleLift exists, much less that it maintains detailed profiles about them,” the complaint summarizes. “They cannot consent to something they do not know is occurring.”

The TripleLift class action lawsuit looks to cover all California residents who accessed a website that used TripleLift’s tracking technology, which includes tags, pixels, and other real-time bidding intel, or those who otherwise had their personal data collected by the data broker during the applicable time period.

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