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  "documentTitle": "AppLovin (APP)",
  "authorId": "51_Muddy_Waters",
  "authorName": "Muddy Waters Research",
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  "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller",
  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2025-03-27 00:00:00",
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  "notes": "The slide details a 'Compass' token system used for fingerprinting and user tracking, highlighting a potential regulatory or disclosure issue regarding the removal of this technology from 10-K filings.",
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      "text": "Because this process of collection and matching occur outside the usual suspect areas, to date, APP's scheme has avoided detection.",
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      "text": "When the user downloads the game, a token value is generated. At this time, it's the “compass random token”. This data is stored locally on the user's mobile device, inside each app the APP MAX mediation SDK installed on the device. When an in-game ad is requested, the CT's value is added to the URL and moved. The CT is re-labelled as the “alart” value. When the user reaches the advertiser's website, the CT's value is again changed to the “art” value and sent to b.applovin.com along with any detected platforms' IDs and any other “key” collected data.",
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      "text": "We note that the Compass token appears to be a code associated with APP's Compass Analytics software. This is software calculates users' long-term value. It is software that APP has considered a key technology since its IPO, however it has removed mention of this technology from its two most recent 10-Ks.",
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      "kind": "paragraph",
      "text": "APP's impropriety occurs outside the MAX mediation stack. It happens on advertisers' websites and APP's own servers – where Google, Meta, and other partners and platforms can't see it.",
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      "text": "1 2020 IPO Prospectus 424B4 p. 125.",
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      "text": "How APP Avoids Detection by Platforms and Partners",
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