AppLovin, which provides a way for software developers to make money by embedding ads in their mobile apps, has been sued for a third time this month – after short-seller reports accused the biz of fraud and deceptive revenue practices.
The two US federal district lawsuits [PDF] filed on Monday in northern California, along with another complaint [PDF] filed on March 5, 2025, claim the advertising network has misled investors by making false statements about its sales.
The litigation cites critical reports published last month by Culper Research and Fuzzy Panda Research, both of which disclosed short positions in AppLovin stock – meaning they stand to profit if the share price falls.
As well as slinging ads within apps, AppLovin also owns a mobile gaming arm – a collection of ten studios – that it announced in mid-February it will offload for $900 million to double down on digital advertising.
The Culper report [PDF] claimed, at the end of February, “AppLovin’s recent success in mobile gaming stems from the systematic exploitation of app permissions that enable advertisements themselves to force-feed silent, backdoor app installations directly onto users’ phones, with just a single click – an event that is often inadvertent thanks to the company’s notorious UX gimmicks.”
Essentially, AppLovin is accused of tricking users into installing apps, often without their clear consent. Companies advertise their apps in other applications via AppLovin – tapping on the ad starts the install process – and pay per installation. When a mobile device user touches an ad that installs an app, that event generates revenue for AppLovin. So being able to force advertisers’ apps onto devices, through some form of user-interface trick, would be lucrative – if that’s occurring as claimed.
The Culper report also contends that the ad biz abuses advertisers by taking unwarranted credit for ad sales through its MAX ad mediation platform. Advertisers pay app makers when app users engage with ads – such as clicking or making a purchase. These ads may be presented in
