VPPA · Free checker
Free VPPA & Meta Pixel checker
Complidar's free VPPA checker crawls up to 120 pages of your site with a real browser and looks for the one pattern that drives Video Privacy Protection Act claims: a video player on a page where an advertising pixel, especially the Meta Pixel, is also firing. You get the pages where that combination exists and an estimated exposure range in minutes, no account and no card. Enter a domain you own or are authorized to test and the scan starts.
What the VPPA actually penalizes, and why a pixel triggers it
The Video Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. § 2710) sets statutory damages at $2,500 per affected person, and it attaches to a specific, mechanical fact pattern rather than to a vague idea of privacy. The pattern is a video player co-occurring with an advertising pixel that transmits what an identifiable visitor watched to a third party without consent. When the Meta Pixel sits on a page that serves video, the title-level viewing data and a user identifier can leave together in the same payload, and that is the disclosure the statute was written to stop.
Per affected person, $2,500 compounds fast across an audience, which is why the checker leads with the question that decides exposure: does that combination exist on your pages at all. The scan answers the observable part. It tells you which pages currently pair video with an ad pixel and whether the payload can tie a view to an identifier, so the conversation with counsel about consent and past transmission starts from evidence instead of fear. The checker is a diagnostic, never legal advice and never a substitute for a lawyer.
What the numbers look like at scale
Comparable VPPA cases run a median around $4.25M, which is the realistic figure to plan against for a site in the pattern. The headline settlements are useful only as scale illustrations, not as predictions for any one site: Edwards v. Hearst resolved for $50M, Gregory v. Tubi for $19.99M, and Markels v. AARP for $12.5M. Those are the ceiling cases, decided on facts and audience sizes specific to each defendant.
The point of running the checker first is that every one of those cases started from something an automated scan can see: a video page where an advertising pixel was transmitting viewing data. Finding that combination yourself, before a plaintiff's firm screenshots it, is the difference between scoping a fix and answering a demand letter. The scan maps where the data leaks; what you do about consent and prior disclosures is where counsel takes over.
What this checker looks for
- Video players detected across up to 120 pages, embedded and native
- Advertising pixels (the Meta Pixel and others) firing on pages that serve video
- Whether the pixel payload can tie a video view to a user identifier
- Consent timing: whether any disclosure or opt-in precedes the tracker firing
- Privacy-policy language about sharing video-viewing data, checked against observed behavior
Common questions
We only have a few product or explainer videos. Can the VPPA really apply?
The exposure question is less about how much video you host and more about the data: if an advertising pixel transmits which video an identifiable person watched, the statutory pattern plaintiffs plead is present, and the VPPA prices it at $2,500 per affected person. The checker shows whether that combination of a video player and a firing ad pixel exists on your pages at all, which is the fact that decides whether there is anything to worry about.
Does the checker replace a lawyer?
No. It finds the mechanical pattern, the video player co-occurring with an advertising pixel that can tie a view to an identifier, and prices it against comparable cases, which is exactly what makes it useful to hand to counsel: the legal conversation about consent and past transmission starts from evidence. The report is a diagnostic, not legal advice.
Does removing the Meta Pixel from video pages fix it?
Scoping advertising pixels off pages that serve video, or stripping the title-level data and identifier from what they send, removes the core pattern for future visitors. Past transmission and whether your consent was adequate are counsel questions. Either way the first step is knowing which pages currently pair video with an ad pixel, which is what the free check maps.
Last updated 2026-06-28 · Informational, not legal advice: how to read this