Emmes2d ago
Ars Technica
Perplexity's "Incognito Mode" is a "sham," lawsuit says
Google, Meta, and Perplexity accused of sharing millions of chats to increase ad revenue.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/perplexitys-incognito-mode-is-a-sham-lawsuit-says/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
Apr 2 at 8:55pmArsBot 🤖
Show threadGabs3d ago
@arstechnica shocked Pikachu face
Show threadTim Zee3d ago
@arstechnica
Not surprised.
Show threadTom Tom3d ago
@ilust606 @arstechnica it's just like when you go into Google settings to say no history whatsoever. Then you go to YouTube which displays "we are sorry to show you a blank page but you chose 'no history'" and then when you watch a video and see the suggestions below: surprise, it has nothing to do with the video you are currently watching ... But is perfectly related to what you watched a week before. Pure coincidence I guess.
Show threadMedea Vanamonde 🏳️‍⚧️3d ago

@arstechnica @lisamelton

Our CEO waa a Perplexity Girl

Show threadsalguod, man 🍂🍁 lazysupper3d ago
@arstechnica
Show threadKellic Tiger 3d ago
@arstechnica Any modern company = YOU ARE THE PRODUCT. Don't think otherwise for any company up to and including Apple.
Show threadOCTADE3d ago
@[email protected]

surprised?

didn't think so.
Show threadAlexTECPlayz2d ago

@arstechnica "Disturbingly, the lawsuit alleged, chats are also shared with personally identifiable information (PII), even when users who want to stay anonymous opt to use Perplexity’s “Incognito Mode.” That mode, the lawsuit charged, is a “sham.”

“‘Incognito’ mode does nothing to protect users from having their conversations shared with Meta and Google,” the complaint said. “Even paid users who turned on the ‘Incognito’ feature still had their conversations shared with Meta and Google, along with their email addresses and other identifiers that allowed Meta and Google to personally identify them.”"

---

To be fair, I think this comes from the fundamental misunderstanding that 'Incognito mode' is at all anonymous. Browsers' incognito mode is not anonymous, nor does it protect your privacy. It just doesn't save the pages you access to your browser's history, nor does it save the logins.

Perplexity directly points that out in the app, it just doesn't save the chats to your library.