Legal Investigation Looks into ESPN+ Over Alleged Privacy Law Violations

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are investigating whether ESPN illegally collected and shared subscribers’ personal information with Meta.

It’s believed that ESPN may have violated federal and state privacy laws by using a tracking tool to secretly gather data about ESPN+ subscribers – specifically, their Facebook IDs and details about the videos they’ve watched on the ESPN+ website – and pass along the data to Meta without each person’s informed, written consent.

ESPN’s Alleged Privacy Law Violations

It’s been alleged that ESPN violated a federal law called the Video Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits “video tape service providers” from knowingly disclosing consumers’ personal information to a third party without obtaining each individual’s written consent.

It’s believed that this data sharing may have been accomplished using a Facebook tracking tool called the Meta pixel. Effectively, snippets of code are used on plus.ESPN.com that can be used to track visitors’ activities, including the titles and URLs of videos they watch. If the consumer has a Facebook account, the code can also record their Facebook ID – a unique identifier that corresponds to their Facebook profile – and share it with Meta along with the user’s video viewing data.

In this way, both Meta and ESPN could potentially link a specific ESPN+ subscriber to their video viewing habits and use that information to better target advertisements to users.

It’s believed that ESPN may not have obtained subscribers’ written consent before collecting and sharing their personal information, which could potentially be a violation of both the Video Privacy Protection Act and a Pennsylvania privacy law.

What Am I Signing Up For, Exactly?

You are signing up to participate in what’s called “mass arbitration,” which is a method of dispute resolution that takes place outside of court.

Though ESPN has faced class action litigation, the company has argued that its subscriber agreement contains what’s known as an arbitration clause, meaning users may have agreed to arbitrate their disputes with ESPN instead of bringing their claims in court. For this reason, the attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to pursue mass arbitration to resolve the privacy issue.

In general, arbitration is a form of dispute resolution that involves the parties resolving their matter before an independent arbitrator instead of a judge or jury.

Mass arbitration involves hundreds or even thousands of consumers each filing an individual arbitration claim against the same company over the same issue. 

How Much Does This Cost?

It costs nothing to sign up. If the attorneys representing you win money on your behalf, their payment will come as a percentage of that amount. If they don’t win your claim, you don’t pay.

How Much Could I Get?

It’s not guaranteed, but those who participate in the mass arbitration could have a claim worth as much as $2,500.

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