A California woman has filed a federal class action lawsuit against OpenAI in US District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging that the company embedded tracking codes from Meta (Facebook) and Google into ChatGPT.com without user consent. The suit claims that this practice violated several laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, and the California Constitution.
According to the complaint, filed by plaintiff Amargo Couture and class action firm Bursor & Fisher, OpenAI integrated Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics tracking codes into ChatGPT.com. Each time a user submitted a query to ChatGPT, these embedded codes transmitted not only the topic of the query but also the user’s chat ID and email address to Meta and Google in real-time.
The complaint details that this data transmission occurred seamlessly, without any notification or consent from users. Specifically, if a user was simultaneously logged into both Facebook and Google accounts while using ChatGPT, their queries could be directly linked to their social media identities through the “c_user” and “fr” cookies.
This practice is alleged to have exposed sensitive information such as financial questions, health issues, legal problems, and personal relationships, which are typically handled with high privacy expectations. The lawsuit asserts that even private queries about a cancer diagnosis, bankruptcy, or custody disputes were being routed to Meta and Google in real time.
The complaint notes that ChatGPT is not just any search engine but a tool where users often share highly confidential information. Some sources estimate that the average company leaks sensitive material to ChatGPT hundreds of times per week. This data sharing without user consent potentially violates significant privacy laws and could result in substantial financial liability for OpenAI.
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and statutory damages of $5,000 per violation under California Penal Code § 637.2, which could amount to billions if applied across millions of ChatGPT users. As of the time of writing, OpenAI has not responded to the allegations.
Meta and Google are not named as defendants in this case; the suit focuses solely on OpenAI’s role in incorporating the tracking technology into its platform.
This lawsuit marks one of the first federal class actions targeting AI chatbot data practices, following a nearly identical complaint filed against Perplexity AI earlier that month. Both cases stem from announcements by Meta and OpenAI in 2025 regarding their plans to use data from AI products for advertising purposes.
The legal landscape is evolving rapidly, with courts across California holding tech giants like Meta and Google liable for practices that bypass traditional Section 230 immunity protections. Bursor & Fisher, the firm behind the complaint, has previously won class action settlements against major corporations such as Apple, Samsung, Walmart, and Keurig.
This development highlights the growing scrutiny of AI technologies and their potential to infringe on user privacy. As AI continues to integrate more deeply into our daily lives, ensuring transparency and consent in data collection practices will become increasingly important for tech companies and regulators alike.
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