USConcealedCarry.com Subscribers’ Personal Data Unlawfully Sent to Facebook, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims the companies behind USConcealedCarry.com unlawfully share subscribers’ personal information with Meta (Facebook) without consent.

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The 18-page lawsuit says the defendants—the United States Concealed Carry Association, Inc. (USCCA) and the company through which it operates, Delta Defense, LLC—have directly violated the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), which prohibits a “video tape service provider” from knowingly disclosing users’ private data without consent.

The suit alleges that USConcealedCarry.com, which offers tiered subscriptions that provide potential USCCA members access to self-defense education and firearms training videos, utilizes a Meta pixel—a piece of programming code that businesses can embed into their websites to allow Facebook to “track every step” of a user’s activity as they interact with the page. With the tracking tool, USConcealedCarry.com captures and sends back to the social media company details about visitors’ identities and video-viewing behavior without proper consent to do so, the case contends.

Per the complaint, the website transmits to the third party the names and URLs of any videos a user has viewed and the subscriber’s Facebook ID (FID), an identifier uniquely linked to an individual’s social media account. The filing stresses that this combination of data can be used by anyone to identify a particular subscriber and connect them with their video-viewing preferences.

“[E]quipped with an FID and the video content name and URL—all of which [the defendants] knowingly provide to Meta without necessary standalone consent from its subscribers—any ordinary person could determine the identity of [the defendants’] subscribers and the specific video or media content they viewed on [USConcealedCarry.com],” the lawsuit says.

According to the suit, the companies were well aware that embedding a Meta pixel on their website would result in the transmission of subscribers’ personal information to Facebook.

“[The defendants] therefore made a conscious and intentional choice to install the pixel on their website to share their subscribers’ video viewing histories with Meta for marketing purposes in violation of the VPPA and Wisconsin state law,” the case charges.

The plaintiff, a Wisconsin resident with a Gold Tier subscription for which he pays $29 per month, says he regularly watches video content on USConcealedCarry.com. The complaint contests, however, that “[a]t no point” did the man consent to the disclosure of his private data to third parties such as Facebook.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who has a Facebook account, who is or was subscribed to USConcealedCarry.com and who viewed prerecorded video content during the time the Meta pixel was active on the website.

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