Legal Investigation: Are Albertsons and Sam’s Club Sharing Customers’ Private Health Data?

It’s believed that these grocery store chains may have used a tracking tool called the Meta pixel on their websites to secretly transmit details about certain users and their purchase habits to Facebook. This data may tie a user’s history to their Facebook ID, a unique identifier that can be used to match the individual to their Facebook profile.

Critically, some of these purchases – such as prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines, pregnancy tests, COVID-19 tests or even first-aid items like burn kits – could potentially reveal customers’ sensitive medical information.

Attorneys suspect that Albertsons and Sam’s Club may have violated certain states’ privacy laws by sharing consumers’ health information without permission.

How Could My Grocery Store Be Violating My Privacy?

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 the cases of Albertsons.com and SamsClub.com, attorneys are specifically looking into whether the websites are tracking which items users have purchased and sending that information to Meta along with each person’s Facebook ID. A Facebook ID is a unique identifier linked to an individual’s Facebook profile and could potentially be used to match up a specific person with their purchases on Albertsons.com or SamsClub.com.

Importantly, when a user purchases health-related items, such as prescriptions, diagnostic tests, over-the-counter medicines, supplements, sleep aids, family planning products, smoking cessation aids or even first-aid products, the data potentially shared with Meta may reveal customers’ protected medical information.

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.

It’s believed that the grocery store chains’ suspected data sharing practices may violate certain states’ privacy laws, which prohibit the disclosure of consumers’ personal information without their consent.

Is This a Lawsuit? What Am I Signing Up For, Exactly?

You are not signing up for a lawsuit, but rather a process known as mass arbitration. This is a relatively new legal technique that, like a class action lawsuit, allows a large group of people to take action and seek compensation from a company over an alleged wrongdoing. Here is a quick explanation of mass arbitration from our blog:

“[M]ass arbitration occurs when hundreds or thousands of consumers file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue at the same time. The aim of a mass arbitration proceeding is to grant relief on a large scale (similar to a class action lawsuit) for those who sign up.”

Albertsons’ terms of use and Sam’s Club’s terms and conditions each contain both a class action waiver and an arbitration clause requiring customers to resolve disputes via arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution that takes place outside of court before a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury. It’s for this reason that attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to pursue mass arbitration against the grocery store chains rather than class action lawsuits.

How Much Does This Cost?

It costs nothing to sign up, and you’ll only need to pay if the attorneys win money on your behalf. Their payment will come as a percentage of your award.

If they don’t win your claim, you don’t pay.

How Much Money Could I Get?

There are no guarantees as to how much money you will get or whether your claim will be successful. However, certain states’ privacy laws stipulate that consumers could be owed anywhere from $100 to $5,000 for violations.

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