Home Depot Class Action Suit Goes Forward: What to Know

Canadian courts have approved a class-action lawsuit against Home Depot, which claims the company shared customer information with Facebook owner Meta without their consent.

Newsweek reached out to Home Depot’s communications team via email for comment.

Why it matters

Class actions are filed on behalf of a larger group of people who have suffered similar harm or legal complaints. This is typically the most efficient way to go about a lawsuit rather than multiple individual claims.

What is the class action lawsuit against Home Depot?

Judge Peter Edelmann allowed the certification of the class action on Tuesday for the alleged invasion of privacy. However, the certification is not a finding of fault.

Customers were reportedly offered the option to receive their receipts via email, but also did not consent to Home Depot using their information for other reasons. Their email addresses and other purchase information were shared with Meta.

Edelmann’s decision states that Meta offered a service to help Home Depot understand its social media advertising campaigns and how they led to in-store sales.

Home Depot had argued that customers had no reasonable expectation of privacy because the information shared with Meta was less sensitive. However, Edelmann said that privacy expectations “cannot be assessed on a piecemeal basis.”

“Frankly, I find Home Depot’s position somewhat confusing,” reads Edelmann’s decision. “As Home Depot assessed its marketing strategies and managed its business interests, it was clearly able to compile data related to several million individual email addresses and have Meta perform sophisticated data analysis on its behalf. But when it comes to assessing the impact for those individuals, it is probably impossible to do so using even the most rudimentary data analysis tools.”

The decision involves over six million emails with Meta over several years. Edelmann noted that it is unclear what portions of the relevant data have been retained by Meta or Home Depot, but that Home Depot has “access to some or all of the information related to the transactions and emails in question.”

Who is eligible for the class action?

The class includes anyone in British Columbia Saskatchewan, Manitoba or Newfoundland and Labrador who shopped at Home Depot between October 1, 2018 and October 31, 2022. They must have provided their email addresses to receive an electronic receipt.

Why Americans are not eligible

Canadian class actions have different requirements than US class actions.

The Home Depot Privacy and Security Statement: US vs. Canada

Both the US and Canadian Home Depot privacy and security statements note that “as we conduct our business and interact with you, we collect, use and disclose personal information.”

“We do this to process and fulfill your orders, to improve our in-store and digital offerings, to create consistent in-store and digital experiences for you, to protect the rights and information of our customers and our company, and for the other purposes disclosed in this Privacy and Security Statement,” the statements read.

United States Home Depot’s statement applies to the use of websites, smart devices, social media, telephone and email communications with the company, and visits to stores and events. The statement says that Home Depot collects this information itself and through “business partners and other third parties.”

The Canadian statement specifies that the “social media interactions” are with sites such as “Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Google, Instagram, Threads and Twitter.” It also goes into more depth about the type of information collected, such as “name, email address, phone number, username, physical address, device ID, government issued identification number, date of birth/age, license (sic) plate number and social media handle .” The Company also collects information about demographics and what people use to create their accounts such as usernames and passwords and government-issued photo ID for returns. Information about people’s properties, such as their square footage and lot size, is also collected.

It says in the US that the information is used to fulfill orders, customer care, communications, fraud prevention, marketing and learning customer trends. This is similar to the Canadian response. However, the Canada site is more structured with bullet points.

In the United States, the information is disclosed to manufacturers, marketing partners, law enforcement and affiliates.

What’s next

With the class action certified, the case will now proceed to court. A lawsuit will determine whether Home Depot violated privacy laws and what kind of compensation customers are entitled to.

People can sign up on the class action site without any financial commitment.

According to Edelmann’s decision, other class action lawsuits making similar claims have also started in Quebec and Saskatchewan in Canada.