Online streaming TV service FuboTV faces a class action lawsuit, accusing it of allowing its users' history and data to be tracked, allegedly in violation of a federal privacy law.
Through this lawsuit, FuboTV becomes one of the latest online video streaming services to be sued under the Video Privacy Protection Ac (VPPA) law.
Fubo uses "sophisticated tracking technology that collects its subscribers’ personally identifiable information, including information which identifies a
person as having viewed specific videos on Defendant’s streaming service," said the lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Ne'Tosha Birdett. "Defendant knowingly discloses this information to third party advertisers so that they can target specific users with specifically tailored advertisements based on their viewing history."
Disclosing customer information to third parties without their consent violates the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, the suit says.
In its annual reports, Fubo stated, "use of subscriber data to deliver relevant advertising on our platform places us and our content publishers at risk for claims under a number of laws, including but not limited to the Video Privacy Protection Act," according to the lawsuit.
In the request for class action status, the lawsuit seeks to represent: "All persons in the United States who had an account with FuboTV that they used to view video materials from August 9, 2021 to the present."
Without class action status, "most members of the Class would find the cost of litigating their claims to be prohibitively expensive and would thus have no effective remedy" the suit states.
The suit seeks a court order stopping the alleged unlawful, conduct, attorney’s fees and costs, statutory damages of $2,500 for each violation of the VPPA and "such further relief as the Court deems reasonable and just."
Birdett is represented by Eugene Y. Turin and Jordan R. Frysinger of McGuire Law P.C.
Birdett v. FUBOTV INC., Cook County Circuit Court, 2023CH07288.