A Dutch class action lawsuit targets an American tech giant accused of harvesting personal data from millions of users, including children, through software hidden in popular games and apps.

A class action lawsuit filed in the Netherlands this week has put the American technology company AppLovin in the dock over allegations that it has been systematically collecting and trading the personal data of millions of Dutch internet users without their knowledge or consent. The case, brought by The Privacy Collective on behalf of Dutch users, has the backing of Amnesty International, which argues that the practices in question amount to a structural violation of fundamental rights including privacy, autonomy and human dignity.

At the heart of the lawsuit is tracking software that AppLovin allegedly embeds in widely used mobile games and applications. The list of affected products includes Block Blast, Subway Surfers, Helix Jump, Vinted and CapCut Video Editor, names that will be familiar to parents as well as to the estimated one and a half million children among the Dutch users whose data is said to have been collected. That data is then allegedly shared with hundreds of other companies and used to construct detailed personal profiles, which AppLovin in turn sells as advertising inventory. The company generated revenues of 5.5 billion dollars in 2025.

Designed to ignore consent

What makes the allegations particularly serious is not merely the scale of the collection, but the intent ascribed to it. The Privacy Collective contends that the tracking software is deliberately engineered to harvest maximum data even when users, or the parents of child users, have explicitly indicated that they do not wish to be tracked. If that claim is borne out, it would suggest not an oversight, but a business model built on circumventing consent.

Dagmar Oudshoorn, Director of Amnesty International Netherlands, was direct about the implications for younger users. “Because children are now tracked at an increasingly young age, it makes them uniquely vulnerable to economic exploitation,” she said. “It is unacceptable that this business model operates at the expense of citizens, and particularly at the expense of minors.” AppLovin has not publicly responded to the specific allegations in the Dutch case.

A test for digital rights

Amnesty International’s decision to lend its weight to a commercial class action is notable. The organisation frames the case not as a consumer dispute but as a human rights matter, arguing that the digital advertising and tracking industry is violating privacy rights structurally and at scale. The lawsuit, if successful, could set a precedent with implications well beyond the Netherlands, at a moment when regulators across Europe are paying closer attention to the data practices of large technology platforms.

The Privacy Collective is inviting anyone who believes they have been harmed by AppLovin’s practices to come forward and support the case.

Sources: Amnesty International Netherlands; The Privacy Collective; AppLovin financial disclosures, 2025; 21 May 2026