NBCUniversal Media Disclosure of Video Viewing Info Class Action

NBCUniversal Media, LLC is the owner or operator of the website Today.com. This class action brings suit against it for communicating to Meta Platforms, Inc. information on videos viewed by visitors to Today.com along with their personally identifiable information (PII) or Facebook ID (FID). The complaint alleges that this violates the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

The class for this action is all persons in the US with a digital subscription to an online website owned or operated by NBCUniversal who had their personal viewing information revealed to Facebook by NBCUniversal.

Under the VPPA, “video tape service providers” like Today.com are forbidden “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.”

When consumers subscribe to Today.com, the complaint claims, they provide NBCUniversal with their computer’s IP address, which reveals the computer’s approximate geographic location. When consumers are opening their accounts, the complaint claims, the company does not ask for their consent to share their personal video viewing information.

The complaint alleges that NBCUniversal “collects and share the personal information of visitors to its website and mobile application (‘App’)” … through cookies, software development kits (‘SDK’), and pixels.”

This includes, the complaint claims, through the Facebook pixel, which the complaint alleges Today.com installed on its website to allow it to collect users’ data. While the Today.com Privacy Policy does admit that it collects and shares certain information, the complaint alleges it does not admit to sharing users’ personal video viewing information.

Today.com discloses the video material viewed by the users, and the complaint alleges that this is communicated at the same time as the users’ FIDs. The FID allows Facebook—or any other person—to locate the person’s Facebook account and profile, the complaint claims: “Put simply, the pixel allows Facebook to know what Video Media one of its users viewed on Today.com.”

The complaint contends that NBCUniversal “could easily program the website and app so that this information is not automatically transmitted to Facebook when a subscriber views Video Media. However, it is not [in][NBCUniversal’s] financial interest to do so because it benefits financially by providing this highly sought-after information.”

According to the complaint, NBCUniversal thus profits from this prohibited disclosure at the expense of its users’ privacy.

The complaint alleges, “Because Today.com digital subscribers are not informed about this dissemination of their Personal Viewing Information—indeed, it is automatic and invisible—they cannot exercise reasonable judgment to defend themselves against the highly personal ways Today.com has used and continues to use data it has about them to make money for itself.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Privacy
Tags: Movies and Videos, Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties, VPPA, Your Privacy