移动广告技术公司AppLovin Corp.提起诉讼，声称它绕过家长控制，在儿童玩的游戏中投放成人约会服务、酒精、电子烟和图形性内容的广告。
Diego County has filed a lawsuit against mobile advertising technology company AppLovin Corp., alleging that it bypassed parental controls to serve ads for adult dating services, alcohol, vaping and graphic sexual content in games played by children.
投诉称，AppLovin帮助开发人员寻找用户并在其应用程序中销售广告，即使启用了家长控制和广告跟踪选择退出，它也会从儿童设备中收集敏感数据。根据提交给圣地亚哥高等法院的诉状，这包括“足够精确的信息，以确定孩子们住在哪里、学习在哪里以及他们是否在睡觉”。
AppLovin, which helps developers find users and sell advertising in their apps, collected sensitive data from children’s devices even when parental controls and ad-tracking opt-outs were enabled, according to the complaint. This included “information precise enough to pinpoint where kids live, where they study and whether they are sleeping,” according to the complaint,filed with the San Diego Superior Court.
AppLovin案是圣地亚哥县新成立的消费者公平和公共保护部门周一提起的三起诉讼之一。该部门是为了应对当地官员所说的联邦政府对消费者保护的执法力度不断减弱而成立的。该部门正在起诉游戏公司Roblox Corp.，称其保护措施不足，无法阻止成年人冒充儿童与年轻用户联系。它还起诉3D打印材料公司Polymaker向组装非法，无法追踪的枪支的人销售某些材料。
The AppLovin case is one of three filed on Monday by San Diego County’s newly formed Consumer Fairness and Public Protection Unit, which was set up in response to what local officials describe as dwindling federal enforcement of consumer protections. The unit is suing gaming company Roblox Corp. for inadequate protections to stop adults posing as children and contacting young users. It’s also suing 3D-printing materials firm Polymaker for marketing certain materials to people assembling illegal, untraceable guns.
AppLovin没有立即回复记者的置评请求。该公司的政策禁止收集儿童数据或使用其技术向儿童投放广告。它在其政策中指出，它不会“故意收集儿童的个人信息或向儿童提供服务”。
AppLovin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s policies prohibit collecting children’s data or using its technology to target kids with ads. It states it does not “knowingly collect personal information from children or serve s to children,” in its policies.
消费者通常与AppLovin互动的方式是使用应用程序或玩移动游戏，这些应用程序或游戏使用其技术为其他应用程序提供广告。
The way a consumer typically interacts with AppLovin is by using an app or playing a mobile game that uses its technology to power ads for other apps.
圣地亚哥县的诉讼称，AppLovin在应用程序中显示广告，这些广告被标记为适合描述性行为的儿童，如奴役。诉讼称，这些广告出现在启用家长控制的设备上。
San Diego County’s lawsuit alleges that AppLovin shows ads in apps marked appropriate for kids that depict sex acts, such as bondage. These ads appear on devices with parental controls enabled, according to the suit.
该投诉包括一些广告的屏幕截图，其中包括一个性化的人工智能聊天机器人应用程序的屏幕截图，该应用程序显示在为六岁儿童配置的Android设备上安装的基于物理的益智游戏中，启用了谷歌的家长控制。另一张屏幕截图显示了在具有相同控件的设备上显示的大麻软糖广告。
The complaint includes screenshots of some of the ads, including for a sexualized AI chatbot app, shown in a physics-based puzzle game installed on an Android device configured for a six-year-old with Google’s parental controls enabled. Another screenshot shows ads for cannabis gummies shown on a device with the same controls.
苹果和谷歌这两家主要的应用商店运营商提供了阻止应用开发商和广告技术公司跟踪儿童数字活动的方法。诉状称，AppLovin在未经家长同意的情况下使用一种名为指纹识别的技术绕过了这些设置，以跟踪儿童以达到广告定位的目的。
The two main app store operators, Apple and Google, offer ways to block app developers and ad tech companies from tracking children’s digital activity. AppLovin bypassed these settings using a technique known as fingerprinting to track children for ad-targeting purposes without parental consent, according to the complaint.
起诉书称，AppLovin“无视收集儿童敏感个人信息的儿童安全工具”，将其“将其输入公司的人工智能广告引擎”。
AppLovin “disregards child safety tools to harvest children’s sensitive personal information” to “feed it into the company’s artificial intelligence advertising engine,” the complaint said.
据彭博社报道，美国证券交易委员会去年开始调查AppLovin的广告行为。AppLovin首席财务官Matt Stumpf表示，该机构在8月份的财报电话会议上已结束调查，但没有建议采取执法行动。
The Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating AppLovin for its advertising practices last year, Bloomberg reported. AppLovin’s Chief Financial Officer Matt Stumpf said the agency had closed its investigation without recommending enforcement action during an earnings call in August.