Hundreds of class actions have been filed in the last six months against companies using certain advertising technology (adtech) in their websites. In-house counsel for companies in all industries need to understand website adtech, the legal risks, and how to mitigate those risks.

What Is Website Adtech?

Website adtech comes in various forms, such as session replay technology, chat bots, and the focus of this article—pixels, tags, and web beacons. Companies use these technologies to understand how users interact with their websites and to target/re-target those consumers (and others like them) on third-party platforms like social media. In fact, an estimated 22.5 million companies (and over 60% of websites) use website adtech. The most widely used of these are Google Analytics and Meta Pixel (formerly the Facebook Pixel).

What Is a Marketing Pixel? And a Cookie?