Data Privacy Breach Settlement
Overview
A $9 million settlement has resulted from an action bought against BuzzFeed, an online publication site, alleging that the company sold some of its user information to social media company Facebook without consent. This action was in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act.
It is alleged that when users watched videos, a Facebook pixel captured data and transmitted it, without the knowledge or consent of the user. This data was captured when users accessed a video through various BuzzFeed websites, including buzzfeed.com, huffpost.com, tasty.com and complex.com. A tracking pixel is a code that allows companies to see what users do online. That information can then be used to target advertising messages and build analytics. Users do not know they are being tracked.
The VPPA is a federal law, passed in 1988, that protects the sharing of someone’s video-viewing history without consent. The law applies to physical media and online streaming videos.
BuzzFeed did not admit to any wrongdoing.
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