US-based, Zillow and Redfin are facing class action lawsuits over their alleged use of secret tracking pixels on their websites for video home tours.
According to ClassAction.org, the secret pixels on the company’s respective websites track videos watched by users and send that data to third-party vendors without valid consent.
The video privacy lawsuits accuse Zillow and Redfin of violating the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) and California Invasion of Privacy Act, laws that protect consumers from having their personal information or communications disclosed without consent.
According to the lawsuit, listing platform Zillow installed pixels on its websites along with other tracking tools from third parties, that capture information about the videos they’ve watched.
It’s alleged that Zillow then shares this data with outside developers.
The Redfin lawsuits also alleges the real estate brokerage installs pixels on video tours of properties listed for sale, that include a prerecorded video.
Like Zillow, Redfin installed on Redfin.com tracking pixels and other technologies from third-party developers that capture and transmit users’ video viewing data without consent, the complaint alleges.
“Defendant programmed such third-party tracking technology into its website for advertising purposes and to increase its profits,” the lawsuit said.
“Defendant knew that such tracking technology would transmit site visitors’ activity, including records of which video tours they have watched, as the entire purpose of implementing such technology is so that Defendant can target advertisements or send marketing emails through the technology’s third-party providers.”
The user data was then sent to third parties such as Reddit, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Oracle and Snapchat, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuits look to cover all individuals in the United States with a Zillow account or a My Redfin account and who requested or viewed a guided video tour on or through Zillow.com or Redfin.com within the applicable statute of limitations period.
