AppLovin Faces Legal Challenges and Stock Downgrades Amid AI and Data Exploitation Allegations

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On Mon, 5 May, 4:01 PM UTC

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AppLovin, once celebrated for its AI technology and ad business, now faces a securities class action lawsuit and stock downgrades following allegations of data exploitation and misleading investors about its AI capabilities.

AppLovin's AI-Driven Success Story Takes a Turn

AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ: APP), once hailed as a rising star in the artificial intelligence and mobile advertising technology sector, is now facing significant challenges. The company, which experienced a remarkable 700% stock surge in recent months due to investor enthusiasm for its AI technology and growing ad business, is now grappling with a dramatic shift in market sentiment 12.

Wall Street Downgrades and Short Seller Reports

Several prominent investment banks have recently lowered their expectations for AppLovin's stock. On April 11, The Goldman Sachs Group slashed its price target from $500.00 to $335.00, following UBS Group's earlier reduction from $630.00 to $450.00 12.

These downgrades come in the wake of multiple critical reports from short-selling firms. On March 28, Muddy Waters Research alleged that AppLovin's ad technology "systematically" violates app store rules by improperly extracting proprietary IDs from major platforms to deliver targeted ads without user consent 12. Earlier, in February, Fuzzy Panda Research and Culper Research criticized AppLovin's AXON software, with Fuzzy Panda urging the S&P 500 committee to exclude the company due to alleged "data theft" and "revenue fraud" 12.

Securities Class Action Lawsuit

Adding to AppLovin's troubles, a securities class action lawsuit has been filed against the company. The lawsuit alleges that AppLovin misled investors about the capabilities of its enhanced AXON 2.0 digital ad platform and its "cutting-edge AI technologies" 12.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims that AppLovin created a false impression that its technology would efficiently match advertisements to mobile games and expand into web-based marketing and e-commerce. Instead, the suit alleges that AppLovin was exploiting advertising data from Meta Platforms and using manipulative practices, including a "backdoor installation scheme," to force unwanted apps on customers 12.

Allegations of Data Exploitation and Inflated Metrics

The class action lawsuit points to short seller reports released on February 26, 2025, which detailed AppLovin's alleged reverse engineering and exploitation of advertising data from Meta Platforms. These reports also claimed that AppLovin utilized manipulative practices to artificially inflate ad click-through and app download rates, such as self-clicking ads and employing design gimmicks to trigger forced shadow downloads 12.

Following the release of these reports, the price of AppLovin shares reportedly fell by more than 12% 12.

Hagens Berman's Investigation and Investor Alert

Prominent shareholder rights firm Hagens Berman is investigating the claims against AppLovin. Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman Partner leading the firm's probe, stated, "The allegations detailed in the short reports and outlined in the recently filed class action complaint, detailing the purported exploitation of user data and manipulative installation schemes, raise serious questions about the integrity of AppLovin's reported growth and the accuracy of its disclosures to the investing public" 12.

Hagens Berman is urging investors who purchased AppLovin shares and suffered substantial losses to submit their losses and participate in the ongoing investigation 12.

As the May 5, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline approaches, the firm is also encouraging whistleblowers with non-public information regarding AppLovin to come forward and potentially take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program 12.

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