Chegg Tracked Users' Video Viewing History, Sent It to Meta, Says Class Action
Educational services company Chegg tracked plaintiff Michael Foulkes’ video viewing history while he was on its website and then shared it with Facebook, said a Thursday class action (docket 1:23-cv-23993) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Miami.
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Foulkes, a resident of Miami-Dade County, Florida, was a Facebook user at the time he had a digital subscription to Chegg, said the complaint, which alleges Chegg violated the Video Privacy Protection Act by embedding the Meta Pixel tracking tool within its website. The Pixel tracked Foulkes’ and class members’ video viewing history while they were on Chegg’s website and reported it to Facebook, along with their unique Facebook identification numbers, it said.
When Foulkes registered on the Chegg website, he provided, and Chegg captured, personally identifiable information (PII), including the plaintiff’s IP address, which informed Chegg of his ZIP code and physical location, the complaint said. The registration granted Foulkes access to restricted prerecorded video and audio visual content offered by Chegg, it said.
The Meta Pixel deployed on Chegg’s website enables Facebook to match website visitors like Foulkes to their Facebook user accounts via their unique Facebook ID (FID). An FID is “enough, on its own, to identify a person, and an ordinary person with access to a user’s FID can locate, access, and view a user’s corresponding Facebook profile by simply appending the FID to www.facebook.com," the complaint said.
Using the FID, Facebook can identify any user on the platform, allowing it to discern PII about the user that it required when the user signed up to use the platform, the complaint said. Facebook refers to the information it receives from outside website operators through the Pixel as “Off-Facebook activity,” it said, saying the tool “constantly transmits a consumer’s website activities to Facebook even if the Facebook application is running in the background of the consumer’s computer.”
Chegg chose certain tracking options when it installed the Pixel, including unencrypted FIDs that allow Facebook to identify any user on its platform along with specific video titles and the videos’ URLs identifying specific prerecorded videos that Foulkes requested or obtained while on the Chegg website, said the complaint. Chegg disclosed to Facebook whether a specific video was viewed or requested, the URL associated with the video and Foulkes’ FID, it said.
Chegg didn’t inform Foulkes or class members their PII would be shared with Facebook or obtain their consent, said the complaint. It also didn’t give them the opportunity, in a clear and conspicuous manner, to prohibit disclosure of the information, it said.
Foulkes seeks an award of actual damages, or if the actual damages are lower than $2,500, liquidated damages of $2,500 per violation for him and each class member. He also seeks punitive statutory damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. Chegg didn't comment Friday.