Legal Investigation Looks into SFGate.com Over Suspected Privacy Violations

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are gathering SFGate newsletter recipients to take action against the media company over potential privacy violations. 

It’s believed that Hearst may have used a tracking tool called the Meta pixel on its website to secretly gather data about these individuals – specifically, their Facebook IDs and details about the videos they’ve watched on SFGate.com – and passed along the data to Meta without each person’s informed, written consent.

Attorneys suspect that Hearst may have violated the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing consumers’ private information without permission.

How Could Hearst 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 the case of SFGate.com, attorneys are specifically looking into whether the website is tracking which videos its users have watched 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 the videos they’ve watched on Hearst’s website.

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 Hearst’s suspected data-sharing practices may violate the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits “video tape service providers” from disclosing to third parties any information that identifies the video materials a person has requested or watched 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.”

SFGate.com’s terms of use 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, as opposed to a judge or jury. 

It’s for this reason that attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to handle this matter as a mass arbitration rather than a class action lawsuit.

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 could get or whether your claim will be successful. The VPPA, however, provides that companies may be responsible for paying consumers $2,500 for violations of the law.

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