Tim Hortons Sued for Privacy Invasion! Company Denies Wrongdoing, Offers Coffee and Pastries for Settlement

Tim Hortons Settles Privacy Lawsuits with Free Coffee and Donuts

Back in June 2020, the Financial Post reported that the well-known coffee chain Tim Hortons had been frequently collecting and updating the precise location information of registered users through its official mobile app — and that class action lawsuits would be filed against the company.

According to the report, whether or not users were actively using the app at the time, Tim Hortons could pull registered users' home addresses, workplaces, working hours, and travel destinations through third-party service providers. It could even analyze users' lifestyles, daily routines, or how much time they spent inside rival coffee chains. The report also caught the attention of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Then, on June 1st of this year, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released a report finding that while Tim Hortons' app did collect precise location data for the stated purpose of delivering targeted ads and product promotions, the company never actually used the data for those purposes.

The report noted that Tim Hortons gathered detailed user location information through the third-party provider Radar without obtaining user consent — and even when the app wasn't in active use — allegedly in violation of Canadian law.

Facing multiple class actions, Tim Hortons announced two days ago (July 29th local time) that it had agreed to settle four of the lawsuits, though the settlement has yet to receive court approval. The company offered affected users free coffee and donuts, while stressing that since the allegations were never proven in court, the settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing.

Alongside the settlement, Tim Hortons said it and Radar would permanently delete user information collected between April 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020. In the company's view, the settlement plus the permanent deletion amounts to a beneficial solution for everyone, since it delivers compensation with practical value.

Some local media have argued that trading a cup of coffee and a donut for users' location data seems a raw deal. In response, a local lawyer specializing in privacy cases pointed out that while it's unclear how many people used the app during the 18-month period covered by the case, the potentially huge user base means that although the individual compensation is minimal, it is actually reasonable.

Financial Post editors had noted in their article that Tim Hortons collected the same user's location more than 2,700 times in under five months without consent — but those allegations were never confirmed in court. The lawyer therefore noted that if the location collection wasn't proven, users weren't actually harmed in any concrete way.

For now, the settlement remains pending: the Quebec court has scheduled a hearing on September 6th of this year to consider the proposal.

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