Viewers Sue Streaming Video Media Firms for Disclosing Their PII Via Tracking Tools

The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and India-based Times Internet Ltd. share subscribers’ personally identifiable information (PII) to unrelated third parties alongside video content subscribers requested or obtained from their websites, allege two Video Privacy Protection Act class actions filed Thursday.

Immanuel Johnson of Virginia and Aniirudh Ramesh of Tennessee, customers of Times Internet’s Cricbuzz Plus paid app that provides live coverage of Indian cricket matches, allege that when they viewed videos on Cricbuzz, Times Internet disclosed their PII to marketing firm CleverTap via its tracking tool for marketing, advertising and analytics purposes. Data disclosed included email address, user ID, session ID and the video ID and name for each video viewed, said the complaint (docket 2:24-cv-04350) filed in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark.

Times Internet didn’t give either customer the ability to prevent Cricbuzz from disclosing PII to third parties, the complaint said. Using the data, the defendant was able to identify the plaintiffs and attribute their video viewing records to their individualized profiles, it said. Even “an ordinary person” could identify the plaintiffs using the data Times Internet disclosed to CleverTap, it said.

Cricbuzz’s transmissions of plaintiffs’ and class members’ PII to CleverTap constitutes knowing disclosures of PII to a person, as proscribed by the VPPA, the complaint said. Plaintiffs seek a judgment that the media company’s conduct violates the VPPA, awards of $2,500 in statutory damages for each VPPA violation, punitive damages, prejudgment interest, attorneys’ fees and costs, and injunctive relief.

In a VPPA class action filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria, plaintiff Tyler Stricker of Saginaw, Michigan, alleged (docket 1:24-cv-00501) the Christian Broadcasting Network knowingly disclosed his PII to Facebook parent Meta Platforms using the Meta Pixel tracking tool. CBN knowingly disclosed Stricker’s identity alongside the video materials he requested or obtained from CBN websites, in violation of the VPPA, it said.

Because a subscriber’s Facebook ID uniquely identifies his Facebook profile, Meta can use the FID “to quickly and easily view a particular subscriber’s corresponding Facebook profile,” the complaint said. The Pixel CBN installed captured and disclosed to Facebook the videos Stricker requested from CBN websites, it said. That can include information about a person’s search for guidance regarding religious faith, mental health and marital or parental relationships, it said.

Stricker’s injuries arising out of CBN’s behavior include loss or diminished value of his PII; damage to his interest in controlling his PII or preventing the unauthorized exploration of his private life by CBN “to its economic benefit"; and the “continued and heightened risk" of the security of his PII that’s “transmitted via unencrypted network traffic,” it said.

Stricker seeks an order enjoining CBN from further unauthorized disclosures of his PII, an award of statutory damages of $2,500 per violation and attorneys’ fees and costs. The defendants didn't comment Friday.