Crunchyroll Discloses Viewer Data, Preferences to Third-Party Marketing Company, Class Action Lawsuit Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims that Crunchyroll intentionally shares app users’ personal data, including viewing activity, with a third-party marketing company to curate targeted advertisements in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

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The 19-page privacy lawsuit contends that Crunchyroll, a streaming service catering to anime and Asian dramas, has embedded a pervasive software development kit (SDK) onto its platform that is engineered by Braze Inc., a third-party marketing communications company.

This kit, the suit alleges, has been used by Crunchyroll since at least 2022 and tracks data including users’ email addresses, persistent device identifiers and intel about the specific video content being viewed. The data transmission allegedly occurs for all accountholders, regardless of whether they pay for a premium, ad-free subscription offering access to all content or if they have a free, limited-access subscription with ads.

“The entire purpose of the Braze SDK is to allow Braze to track individual users’ actions within the App, including their video-viewing activity, so that targeted marketing campaigns can be delivered to specific identified users based on the specific content they watch,” the filing describes.

According to the complaint, businesses like Crunchyroll can utilize the data obtained by Braze and other marketing companies to build distinctive user dossiers that conjoin identity information with all viewing activities across any number of viewing sessions. The case maintains that this transmission to Braze occurs anytime a user selects and plays a video after registering for a Crunchyroll account, which is a prerequisite for accessing any content within the streaming service.

With these assembled profiles, the suit asserts, Crunchyroll then develops highly personalized, targeted advertising campaigns for each user based on their preferences and device information.

 “Crunchyroll itself uses the data to run advertisements aimed at converting free users to paid subscribers and retaining existing subscribers,” the complaint argues.

The Video Privacy Protection Act, the suit explains, is a consumer protection law with the specific goal of maintaining the privacy of personal and familial video viewing activity by preventing video tape service providers from disclosing this information without consent. Though the VPPA was enacted in 1988, the case reports, legislators have found that it “remain[s] profoundly relevant” despite technological changes and continues to ensure that Americans’ fundamental right to privacy prevails in the internet age.

“By disclosing its users’ Personal Viewing Information to Braze without proper consent, Crunchyroll has intentionally and knowingly violated the VPPA,” the lawsuit contends.

The plaintiffs, five California residents, all claim to have had their data shared with Braze by way of its software development kit built into the Crunchyroll platform. Notably, one plaintiff is currently a minor whose data was allegedly tracked and shared since creating her account around 2023, and another plaintiff reports creating his account when he was a minor in 2024.

This is not the first time that Crunchyroll has faced accusations of Video Privacy Protection Act violations, the case says, as a separate lawsuit was filed against Sony, parent company of Crunchyroll, in 2022 over its alleged use of the Meta or Facebook pixel that similarly shared user information with Meta.

Eventually, Crunchyroll agreed to settle this lawsuit for $16 million, the complaint notes, and modify its use of tracking technologies to better comply with the VPPA.

“Despite this prior settlement, Crunchyroll has continued to violate the VPPA through its use of the Braze SDK, disclosing substantially similar information to a different third party without obtaining proper consent,” the current suit argues.

The Crunchyroll VPPA class action lawsuit seeks to represent two subclasses of consumers, consisting of:

• All persons in the United States who were minor children and created accounts on the Crunchyroll app, watched videos through the platform and had their personal information shared with Braze within the applicable statute of limitations period (the “Minor Subscriber class”); and
• All persons in the United States who created accounts on the Crunchyroll app, watched videos through the platform and had their personal information shared with Braze within the applicable statute of limitations period (the “Adult Subscriber class”).

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