AARP Disclosed Website Visitors’ Personal Info to Meta Without Consent, Class Action Claims

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AARP has unlawfully collected and disclosed the personal information of people who viewed videos on its website to Meta Platforms without consent, a proposed class action claims.

The 19-page lawsuit alleges that AARP, a nonprofit who serves the senior community, has embedded tracking software on AARP.org that records how visitors use the site—including the titles and URLs of videos they watch—and shares the information with Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram. Per the case, this “snippet of programming code,” called the Meta pixel, is used by AARP to collect analytical data about how people use its website so the company can target more specific advertisements to users.

“Thus, the Pixel is installed within the code of a website, such as AARP, to increase the business’s profits,” the complaint contends, claiming Meta also benefits from the arrangement given AARP has a greater incentive to advertise on its platforms, and the data collected through the pixel helps the company build “more fulsome profiles” of its users.

According to the case, AARP has violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a federal law that prohibits a “video tape service provider” from knowingly disclosing without written consent information that identifies a person as having requested or obtained specific video materials.

Among the data collected from AARP.org visitors are the details about the videos they watch and their Facebook IDs, the lawsuit relays. Per the case, a person’s Facebook ID is a unique identifier that allows Meta, or anyone, for that matter, to locate their Facebook profile, which may contain “a vast amount” of additional personal information.

Because the Meta pixel on AARP.org discloses visitors’ video viewing information and their Facebook IDs to Meta “in a single, unencrypted transmission,” the social media giant is able to connect each person’s video viewing choices with their Facebook profile, the filing says. Thus, each disclosure constitutes information that “identifies a person as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services from a video tape service provider,” the suit contends.

Per the case, AARP has failed to obtain from website users the level of consent required under the VPPA for the disclosure of their video viewing information to Meta.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the U.S. who viewed video content on AARP.org, was a Facebook or Instagram user during the time the Meta pixel was active on AARP.org, and was logged into Facebook or Instagram when the pixel was active on the defendant’s website.

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