Perplexity Lawsuit: The Chat-Sharing Case Was Dropped, a Paid-User Case Is Pending
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If you searched for a Perplexity lawsuit because of the headlines about chats reaching Meta and Google: that class action was filed on March 31, 2026 and withdrawn by the plaintiff on May 1, 2026, before any court ruled on it. A separate Perplexity class action for paying subscribers — over cut usage limits and swapped AI models — is pending in San Francisco federal court. The publisher and Amazon lawsuits pay users nothing. As of September 30, 2026 there is no settlement and no claim form in any of them.
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Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
What the Two Consumer Lawsuits Claimed
The chat-sharing case (free users). The complaint said Perplexity built the Meta Pixel, Google Ads and Google DoubleClick into its website, and Google Analytics and Google Firebase into its app. According to the complaint, that code passed users' opening prompts, the follow-up questions they clicked, their sign-up email addresses and every conversation URL to Meta and Google. The sharpest allegation concerned “Incognito” mode, which Perplexity says means threads “won't save to your history and expire after 24 hours.” The plaintiff alleged that opening prompts typed in Incognito still reached Meta and Google, along with email addresses and other identifiers. The claims ran under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), California's computer-access law, the California Constitution and the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, with statutory damages of at least $5,000 per violation demanded. None of it was tested: the case was dropped before any defendant answered.
The paid-subscriber case. A second complaint says Perplexity cut usage limits for paying accounts starting in December 2025 without notice — per its table, Pro Search from unlimited to 200 a month and Deep Research from 600 a day to 20 a month, a cut of more than 99.8 percent. It also alleges that queries were answered by cheaper models than the one the user selected, while the platform showed the selected model. It points to Perplexity's own terms, which promised that “any changes to your subscription plan will take effect following reasonable notice to you.”
Case Details
Chat-sharing case: filed March 31, 2026 under the name “John Doe” in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, against Perplexity AI, Meta Platforms and Google. Judge Vince Chhabria denied the request to proceed anonymously on April 3, 2026, and the corrected complaint was filed on April 14, 2026 as Noel v. Perplexity AI, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-02803-VC. On May 1, 2026 the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the entire case without prejudice; the court closed it on May 6, 2026.
Paid-subscriber case: Gagleard v. Perplexity AI, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-05949-WHO, filed June 17, 2026 in the same court by subscribers from Illinois and Massachusetts and reassigned to Judge William H. Orrick on July 14, 2026.
Cases users get nothing from: copyright suits in the Southern District of New York by Dow Jones and the New York Post (filed October 21, 2024), Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster (September 10, 2025), the Chicago Tribune (December 4, 2025), The New York Times (December 5, 2025) and CNN (May 28, 2026); a Reddit suit naming Perplexity alongside SerpApi and others (October 22, 2025); and Amazon's suit over Perplexity's Comet browser (November 4, 2025), in which the Ninth Circuit vacated Amazon's preliminary injunction on August 4, 2026.
Status: One Case Closed, One at the Motion Stage, No Settlement
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Who Was, and Is, in the Proposed Classes
Chat-sharing case (dismissed): the proposed class was everyone in the United States whose conversations with Perplexity were obtained by Meta and/or Google between December 7, 2022 and February 4, 2026, with a California subclass. People with paid Perplexity Pro or Max subscriptions were left out, because the plaintiff said those plans run under different terms that are “not at issue in this case.” With the dismissal, that proposed class no longer exists.
Paid-subscriber case (pending): the proposed class is everyone who registered for any Perplexity account other than the free plan, plus Illinois and Massachusetts subclasses. You do not sign up for a class action; if a class is certified or a settlement is reached, notice comes through the court process. If you paid for Pro or Max, keeping your receipts and any screenshots of limit messages costs nothing.
Is There Money? Not Now
Perplexity Lawsuit Timeline
- 1
March 31, 2026 — Chat-Sharing Class Action Filed
An anonymous plaintiff sues Perplexity, Meta and Google in San Francisco federal court, alleging chats reached Meta and Google through tracking code, including in Incognito mode.
- 2
April 3–14, 2026 — No Anonymity, Corrected Complaint
Judge Vince Chhabria denies the request to proceed under a pseudonym. The corrected complaint is filed April 14 as Noel v. Perplexity AI, No. 3:26-cv-02803.
- 3
May 1, 2026 — Plaintiff Drops the Case
The plaintiff voluntarily dismisses all claims against all three defendants without prejudice, before any of them answered. The court closes the case on May 6.
- 4
June 17, 2026 — Paid-Subscriber Class Action
Gagleard v. Perplexity AI (No. 3:26-cv-05949) accuses Perplexity of cutting paid limits without notice and substituting cheaper models. Judge William H. Orrick takes the case on July 14.
- 5
August 4, 2026 — Ninth Circuit Rules for Perplexity Against Amazon
The appeals court vacates Amazon's preliminary injunction over the Comet browser, holding that the user, not Perplexity, accessed Amazon's site. A business dispute that pays users nothing.
- 6
September 24, 2026 — Perplexity Moves to Compel Arbitration
Perplexity files motions to compel arbitration and to dismiss the subscriber case. Opposition is due October 29, the reply November 19, and a case management conference is set for December 8, 2026.
Three Things to Watch For
Headlines about AI chats reaching Meta and Google, with no settlement behind them, are an easy hook:
“Claim your Perplexity settlement” messages
No Perplexity case has settled, so there is no claims site. A page asking for your Perplexity login, card number or Social Security number to “release your payment” is collecting data, not filing a claim.
“Upload your chat history to qualify”
The chat-sharing case was about sensitive conversations leaving Perplexity. Handing a full export of your threads — health, money, legal questions — to an unknown “eligibility check” repeats the harm. No court process asks for it today, because no class exists.
Pay-to-join and refund offers for Pro subscribers
The subscriber case is pending, no class is certified and no refund program exists. Anyone charging a fee to “join the Perplexity class action” or promising a Deep Research refund is selling something the court has not created. Class members do not pay to be included.
Perplexity Lawsuit — Questions People Actually Ask
Is there a Perplexity class action settlement?
No. As of September 30, 2026 no Perplexity class action has settled, and there is no fund, administrator, claim form or deadline. For settlements that are actually taking claims, see our list of open class action settlements.
Were my Perplexity chats shared with Meta and Google?
That was the allegation, and no court decided it. The complaint said tracking code sent opening prompts, clicked follow-up questions, sign-up email addresses and conversation URLs to Meta and Google between December 7, 2022 and February 4, 2026. The plaintiff withdrew the case on May 1, 2026, before Perplexity, Meta or Google answered, so none of it was tested. A similar tracking dispute over health-app data is on our Flo app lawsuit page.
What happened to the Perplexity AI lawsuit over chat sharing?
The plaintiff dismissed it himself, without prejudice, on May 1, 2026, a month after filing; the court closed it on May 6. The dismissal notice gives no reason. The claims could be filed again, but no replacement privacy class action against Perplexity appears in the federal court records we checked as of September 30, 2026.
Does Perplexity's Incognito mode keep my chats private?
Perplexity says Incognito sessions expire within 24 hours and are not saved to your history. The dismissed complaint alleged that opening prompts typed in Incognito still reached Meta and Google — a claim no court ruled on. Perplexity's own description of Incognito covers your history and the 24-hour expiry, not what tracking code on the page transmits.
I pay for Perplexity Pro. Is there a Perplexity class action for me?
There is a pending one: Gagleard v. Perplexity AI, No. 3:26-cv-05949 in San Francisco federal court. The proposed class is everyone who registered for any Perplexity account other than the free plan. It alleges limits were cut without notice starting in December 2025 (Deep Research from 600 a day to 20 a month) and that some queries were answered by a cheaper model than the one selected. Perplexity has moved to compel arbitration and to dismiss; no class is certified and nothing is payable.
Do the New York Times, Dow Jones and Reddit lawsuits get users anything?
No. Those suits were brought by publishers and platforms — Dow Jones and the New York Post, Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, Reddit, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and CNN — all in the Southern District of New York. Any damages would go to them. The same holds for Amazon's Comet case and for two trademark suits, by Perplexity Solved Solutions (filed January 30, 2025, closed February 26, 2026) and Comet ML (filed May 12, 2025, closed August 28, 2025).
What did the Ninth Circuit decide in Amazon v. Perplexity in August 2026?
Amazon sued on November 4, 2025, saying Perplexity's Comet browser agent accessed Amazon.com without authorization. After a March 2026 hearing, the district court granted Amazon a preliminary injunction. On August 4, 2026 the Ninth Circuit vacated it and sent the case back, holding that on the facts before it, the user — with Perplexity's assistant as a tool — accessed Amazon's site. It is a dispute between two companies and pays users nothing.
What can I do about my Perplexity data right now?
Perplexity documents three steps. Delete threads from your History (the three-dot menu has “Delete all threads,” which cannot be undone). Switch off “AI data retention” under Account settings, then Preferences: it is on by default for Free, Pro and Max users, and an opt-out only covers data collected afterwards. Or delete the account, which Perplexity says permanently removes account data within 30 days — cancel any subscription first. If you are considering a legal claim, talk to a lawyer before deleting, because your history may be evidence.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.
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