From Fox News: High-end athleisure brand Alo could face legal trouble after Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk’s private purchase history was allegedly leaked and used to smear her.
A TikTok content creator recorded a now-viral video this week claiming he received an email from “someone who works at Alo” who looked up Kirk’s account and found that she spent over $1,000 the day after her husband was assassinated. The TikTok creator, who displayed the receipt online, mocked Kirk over the timing of the “shopping spree.”
The influencer – @markosbits on TikTok – insisted the leaked receipt would “completely ruin Erika Kirk’s entire story,” and suggested that it proved she wasn’t grieving the morning after her husband was assassinated. The account has nearly 900,000 followers and the video has been viewed over 8 million times.
TPUSA staffer Elizabeth McCoy posted a message on social media saying she purchased the clothes for Kirk.
“I was the one who made the Alo purchase, in person, in Utah. When we got the call that Charlie had been shot, we rushed from the office and into the airplane. We arrived in Utah with nothing but the clothes we were wearing. We were in those clothes all day at the hospital and slept in them that night,” McCoy wrote.
“The next morning, our friend Stacy handed me her card, and I went out and picked up some items and toiletries for various team members and Erika. Alo was down the street,” McCoy said. “To accuse Erika or anyone else of entertaining a ‘shopping spree’ hours after her husband was brutally murdered is cruel and vicious.”
McCoy blasted the leaked information as a “planned, manufactured attack.”
Alo did not respond to questions about investigating the receipt leak and sharing customer purchasing history.
Attorney Danny Karon, author of “Your Love Lawyer’s Guide to Legal Wellness,” said retail stores can’t provide purchasing history freely.
“The level of protection they owe you depends on how they use your data, who they share it with, and which state’s laws apply,” Karon told Fox News Digital.
The Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA) allows retailers to share or sell customer purchasing data to third parties with consumer’s consent, but retailers are required to disclose data sharing practices in their privacy notice. Consumers also have the right to opt out of data sharing under UCPA.
“Consumers aren’t permitted to bring UCPA claims; only the Utah attorney general can. But no matter, because what happened to Erica Kirk wasn’t a share or sale as contemplated by the UCPA, meaning Alo may not take refuge in it,” Karon said. “Instead, what happened was a privacy breach that gives rise to several common-law —— as opposed to statutory, like the UCPA —— claims, such as public disclosure of private facts, breach of contract, intrusion upon seclusion, doxxing and negligence.”
“And even though Kirk is not a Utah resident, because her Alo purchase occurred in a Utah brick-and-mortar location and the disclosure occurred in Utah, personal jurisdiction over the parties exists in Utah, as does the application of Utah law. This means she may file her case in Utah under Utah law.”
Karon said the disclosure of Kirk’s personal information may also violate the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits deceptive or unfair practices. He said that “if a retailer promises not to share your data but does, they could violate federal law.”
Read more at Fox News
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