The defendant in this case is Buzzfeed, Inc., sued as the owner of HuffingtonPost.com (also known as HuffPost). The complaint alleges that HuffPost violates the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by disclosing information on the videos watched by its users, along with their identifying information, to Meta Platforms, Inc. or Facebook.
The class for this action is all persons in the US with a digital subscription to an online website owned or operated by Buzzfeed or HuffPost who had their Personal Viewing Information disclosed to Facebook by Buzzfeed or HuffPost.
When the VPPA was passed, Senators Patrick Leahy and Paul Simon noted, on the subject of video rentals, that “the trail of information generated by every transaction that is now recorded and stored in sophisticated record-keeping systems is a new, more subtle and pervasive form of surveillance.” The VPPA was intended to protect the right to privacy of individuals regarding the books they read and the videos they watch.
As a “video service provider,” HuffingtonPost.com is forbidden by the VPPA, the complaint alleges, “from knowingly disclosing consumers’ personally identifiable information, including ‘information which identifies a person as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services from a video tape provider,’ without express consent in a stand-alone consent form.”
But the complaint claims that HuffPost does collect and share information about the visitors to its website and app, via cookies, software development kits (SDKs), and pixels. “In other words,” the complaint alleges, “digital subscribers to HuffingtonPost.com have their personal information disclosed to [HuffPost’s] third-party business partners.”
According to the complaint, HuffPost has installed the Facebook pixel on its website which allows it to collect and share data. It tracks when digital subscribers enter and view video, the complaint says, then discloses to Facebook the videos viewed and the viewers’ personally identifiable information, in the form of their Facebook ID (FID).
“Importantly,” the complaint alleges, HuffPost “shares the Personal Viewing Information—i.e., digital subscribers’ unique FID and video content viewed—together as one data point to Facebook.” The FID can easily be used, the complaint says, by Facebook “or any other ordinary person,” to find and access the viewer’s Facebook account and profile.
“Put simply,” the complaint alleges, “the pixel allows Facebook to know what Video Media one of its users viewed on HuffingtonPost.com.” Huffpost thus “profits handsomely” from disclosing its users’ video viewing information, the complaint alleges, but “[i]t does so at the expense of its digital subscribers’ privacy and their statutory rights under the VPPA.”
This activity is invisible, the complaint claims, so that subscribers are not aware that it is happening and cannot defend themselves from it.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Privacy
Most Recent Case Event
Huffington Post Disclosure to Meta of Videos Viewed VPPA Complaint
September 12, 2022
The defendant in this case is Buzzfeed, Inc., sued as the owner of HuffingtonPost.com (also known as HuffPost). The complaint alleges that HuffPost violates the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by disclosing information on the videos watched by its users, along with their identifying information, to Meta Platforms, Inc. or Facebook.
Huffington Post Disclosure to Meta of Videos Viewed VPPA ComplaintCase Event History
Huffington Post Disclosure to Meta of Videos Viewed VPPA Complaint
September 12, 2022
The defendant in this case is Buzzfeed, Inc., sued as the owner of HuffingtonPost.com (also known as HuffPost). The complaint alleges that HuffPost violates the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by disclosing information on the videos watched by its users, along with their identifying information, to Meta Platforms, Inc. or Facebook.
Huffington Post Disclosure to Meta of Videos Viewed VPPA Complaint