Newsweek Uses Pixel to Track Subscribers' Viewed Videos, Alleges VPPA Complaint

Because Newsweek Digital shares subscribers’ unique Facebook ID and video media viewed as one data point to Facebook, the social media platform can use it to “quickly and easily locate, access, and view digital subscribers’ corresponding Facebook profile,” in effect granting Facebook -- “or any other ordinary person” -- knowledge of the videos its subscribers view on the Newsweek.com site, it said.

The invisible Facebook tracking pixel follows consumers’ actions on advertisers’ websites and reports them to the social media platform. To obtain the code for the pixel, the website advertiser tells Facebook which website events it wants to track, such as video media. Facebook returns corresponding pixel code for the advertiser to incorporate into its website, it said.

Newsweek Digital uses the personal viewing information to build more targeted advertising to generate revenue, profiting from the disclosure of the information to Facebook at the expense of subscribers’ privacy and their statutory rights under the VPPA, said the complaint. Facebook uses the pixel to build “detailed profiles” about a website’s users, enabling advertisers to serve them targeted ads, it said.

Once the user clicks on and watches the video in an article, Newsweek.com sends the name of the video, the URL and the subscriber’s Facebook ID to Facebook. Ordinary individuals, too, can learn the identity of digital subscribers and the specific video or media content they requested on Newsweek Digital using their Facebook ID, the video content name and URL, without a subscriber’s consent, said the complaint.

The media company doesn’t give subscribers the ability to consent to the disclosure of their personally identifiable information at the time they view a video on the website, the complaint said. Nor does the defendant give its digital subscribers a clear opportunity for them to withdraw on a case-by-case basis from the disclosure of their personal viewing information or to opt out of ongoing disclosures, it said.

The defendant’s policy statement that it will never sell, license or share information that individually identifies a subscriber with third parties “is false,” said the complaint. Though its privacy policy says the company collects consumers' information on content they consume on the Newsweek Digital website or app, it doesn’t say it will share their private viewing information with third parties such as Facebook. The privacy policy also elicits subscribers’ consent “forever,” while the VPPA only allows consent for two years, the complaint said.

Plaintiff Emma Mendoza of Harris County, Texas, a Facebook account holder and Newsweek Digital subscriber, never consented or authorized the defendant to disclose her personal viewing information to Facebook, said the complaint. She's represented in the case by Shamis & Gentile, Miami, and Edelsberg Law, Aventura, Florida, which are experienced in class-action litigation generally and “in the emerging field of digital privacy litigation specifically,” said the complaint.

The class action claims violation of the VPPA and seeks an award of $2,500 to the plaintiff and each class member, punitive damages, prejudgment interest, attorneys’ costs and legal fees, plus injunctive relief.