While plaintiffs’ attorneys were initially focused late last year on suing health care entities for using Pixel and other tracking technology to share information about website users with social media platforms such as Meta (formerly Facebook), they are now eyeing other industries, including the fast food industry.
This week, a class action complaint was filed in the Northern District of California against Chick-Fil-A, Inc. for data harvesting and targeted advertising without users’ consent.
According to the Complaint, Chick-Fil-A violated the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 when it deployed the Facebook Tracking Pixel “to identify a user’s video-watching behavior.” The complaint details how the Meta Pixel is used, which is educational in and of itself. According to the complaint, “Given the nature of Defendants’ business, visitors would be shocked and appalled to know that Defendants secretly disclose to Facebook all of the key data regarding a visitor’s viewing habits.”
New state privacy law requirements going into effect in 2023 will prompt more and more businesses to include pop-ups on websites asking customers whether they want to allow cookies or other tracking technology to be used while they visit a site. Before clicking “I accept,” research a bit how cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies are used and make an educated choice on whether to consent to the use of trackers or to set your own preferences. If you click “I agree,” you shouldn’t complain later about how detailed the tracking is, or how shocking or appalling it seems.