LoopMe tracks and sells millions of web users' data, a new class action lawsuit alleges

Californian Sean Smith filed a class action lawsuit against LoopMe Inc. on Aug. 24, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The complaint alleges the advertising technology company used cookies embedded across tens of thousands of websites to build detailed profiles of internet users then sold those profiles to advertisers and other data brokers without asking permission.

The allegations

LoopMe is a registered data broker in California, and the company says it handles 300 billion ad requests a day across more than 50,000 websites and apps, reaching 2 billion devices a month. It runs a demand-side platform, a supply-side platform and an ad exchange in real-time bidding, the millisecond auction that decides which ad appears when a page loads. Each role gives it access to user data at a different point in the transaction, the lawsuit claims.

The proposed class action claims LoopMe's tracking technology is on more than 25,000 websites, including Amazon, WebMD, Business Insider, Kiplinger, NetCredit, MyMonthlyCycles and SoberSpeak.

The data LoopMe reportedly collects includes:

  • Persistent LoopMe and advertising identifiers
  • IP addresses and probabilistic identifiers
  • Detailed page URLs, browsers and device types
  • Location data, age ranges, genders and time zones

Smith's reported experience

Smith says he visited Yahoo repeatedly over the past year to read finance, investment and stock news. LoopMe's cookies operated on the site during those visits and collected his persistent identifiers, IP address, search terms, the specific URLs he opened, his browser and his operating system, the complaint claims.

The filing alleges LoopMe then synced that material with data it bought from other brokers and ran identity resolution, matching otherwise anonymous records to Smith. That produced a profile showing his interests, political beliefs, financial habits and the devices he uses, which the company sold to advertisers and other brokers, the class action alleges.

The legal claims

The class action lawsuit brings five claims:

  • California Penal Code Section 631, the state wiretapping law, over the alleged interception of his communications with websites
  • California Penal Code Section 638.51, a state law that bars using a pen register, a tool that records the routing and addressing details of a communication rather than its content, without a court order
  • Intrusion upon seclusion, a privacy tort covering intrusion into private affairs that a reasonable person would find highly offensive
  • Unjust enrichment, a theory that applies when a company profits unfairly at someone else's expense
  • Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the federal wiretapping statute, pled for the nationwide class

What the case means for internet users

The proposed nationwide class covers people in the United States whose personal information LoopMe collected, sold or used to deliver targeted ads. The California class covers state residents on the same terms.

LoopMe has not yet responded to the complaint or admitted wrongdoing. As of this writing, there is no settlement, no claims process and no money available.