A lawsuit filed in Seattle federal court alleges that Costco has shared customers’ private information with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, without their consent. The court documents obtained by The Post claim that Costco installed Meta’s analytical tool, Meta Pixel, on its website. This tool tracks website visitors and activities, giving Meta access to customers’ personal data, including highly personal health information from pharmacy users. While Meta’s Help Center states that the code is meant to track advertising effectiveness, it remains unclear why Costco would need to use this technology on the healthcare portion of its website, which deals with ordering and refilling prescriptions.
According to the lawsuit, which was previously reported on by The Seattle Times, Meta gained access to prescription, treatment, and health insurance data, as well as the location of patients. The suit argues that personal data has become a valuable commodity, and Meta can potentially monetize this information by selling advertising to insurance companies.
The lawsuit asserts that Costco has violated privacy laws in Washington State, as the company represents its website and pharmacy webpages as secure platforms where information will remain protected and confidential. However, the suit claims that Costco fails to disclose that it shares patient online activities and health information with Meta via Pixel, thereby invading users’ privacy and violating privacy laws that require consent for sharing user data.
While it’s uncertain how many users Costco has on its website, the company reportedly generated over $10 billion in e-commerce sales in 2022. The plaintiffs are requesting a trial by jury to resolve the dispute and seek financial damages, including restitution, as well as a declaration that Costco’s conduct was unlawful. Notably, Meta is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Meta stated that the company’s policies explicitly state that advertisers should not send sensitive information through their Business Tools. They further mentioned that educating advertisers on properly setting up Business Tools to prevent the sharing of sensitive data is a priority for Meta. The spokesperson added that their system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data that it can detect.
Calls for comment to Costco and the plaintiff’s attorneys at law firms Tousley Brain Stephens and Zimmerman Reed have not been immediately answered.
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