Is Costco Pharmacy Sharing User Data with Facebook? Attorneys Investigate Possible Privacy Violations
Last Updated on February 1, 2024
Investigation Complete
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org have finished their investigation into this matter.
Check back for any potential updates and take a look at our open investigations here. The information on this page is for reference only.
At A Glance
- This Alert Affects:
- Facebook users in Pennsylvania, Florida and Massachusetts who've used Costco’s website to fill a prescription for themselves within the past three years.
- What’s Going On?
- Attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe Costco Wholesale Corporation may be using a tracking tool on its website to secretly share information about pharmacy customers and their prescription medications with Facebook. They’re now looking into whether a class action lawsuit can be filed against Costco over potential privacy violations.
- How Could a Lawsuit Help?
- If filed and successful, a class action lawsuit could help compensate consumers for any violations of their privacy and force Costco to change its data collection practices.
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org would like to hear from consumers in Pennsylvania, Florida and Massachusetts who have used Costco’s website to fill prescriptions within the past three years and also have a Facebook account.
They have reason to believe Costco may be using a tracking tool to secretly transmit data about these individuals to Facebook without their consent. These tools could potentially be used to collect and send any information input by Costco pharmacy customers as they navigate the site, revealing sensitive data about their medical conditions, treatments and prescriptions.
The attorneys are now investigating whether a class action lawsuit can be filed against Costco over possible privacy violations – but first, they need to hear from more people who may have been affected.
How Could Costco Be Sharing Data with Facebook?
Many website operators gather data about the people who visit their websites by using an invisible tracking tool called the Meta (formerly known as Facebook) pixel.
The pixel, which can be embedded on any webpage, can be programmed to record every action a visitor takes, such as the buttons they click, the searches they perform and the content they view. In general, the data collected by a website through the Meta pixel can be used by both the website operator and the social media giant to better target advertisements to their users.
In this case, attorneys are specifically looking into whether Pharmacy.Costco.com is tracking customers as they use the website to fill their prescriptions, exposing private information about their medical conditions, treatments and prescriptions.
It’s believed that Costco may have violated the law by failing to secure website visitors’ permission before tracking and disclosing their highly confidential information.
How Could a Lawsuit Help?
If filed and successful, a class action lawsuit could help compensate those affected by Costco’s suspected data-sharing practices for potential privacy violations. It could also potentially force the company to change how it handles consumers’ data.
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