The Weather Channel — which is owned by IBM (NYSE:IBM) — is facing a lawsuit due to claims that the network’s app reportedly compiled geolocation data of its users and shared it with advertisers and other companies for commercial purposes without users’ consent.
The app shared this data even though it claims that it only asks for the location of its users in order to provide local weather data, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by California government officials. The app does not “give users any reason to believe that their location data will be used for anything other than personalized local weather data, alerts, and forecasts” when it asks users for permission to turn on the location tracking feature for iOS and Android devices, according to a statement in the lawsuit.
“Unbeknownst to many users, the Weather Channel App has tracked users’ detailed geolocation data for years, analyzing and/or transferring that data to third parties for a variety of commercial and advertising purposes, including for targeted advertisements based on locations users frequent, and for hedge funds interested in analyzing consumer behavior,” the lawsuit added.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer filed the lawsuit as he is representing the people of the state of California through the complaint, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The suit seeks civil penalties and an injunction that prevents the Weather Channel “from engaging in these prohibited business practices,” which reportedly are in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law.
IBM stock is surging about 3.9% on Friday.
