NFL Team Websites Illegally Shared Subscriber Data with Facebook, Class Action Claims [DISMISSED]
Last Updated on October 5, 2023
Alex et al. v. NFL Enterprises, LLC et al.
Filed: October 27, 2022 ◆§ 1:22-cv-09239
A class action alleges the websites for each NFL team have unlawfully shared the personal identifying information of newsletter subscribers with Facebook without consent.
New York
October 5, 2023 – NFL Team Websites Video Privacy Class Action Dismissed
The proposed class action detailed on this page was dismissed on September 27, 2023.
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In an eight-page opinion and order granting the NFL’s motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. found that the plaintiffs do not qualify as “consumers” within the meaning of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), which defines the term as “any renter, purchaser, or subscriber of goods or services from a video tape service provider.”
Judge Carter stated that the plaintiffs cannot be considered subscribers under the federal law because they did not create an account or pay to subscribe to the NFL e-newsletters, and the newsletters did not allow them access to exclusive content or extra benefits that other website visitors could not otherwise receive.
“As such, Plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden that they acted as subscribers when video watching on the Team Websites, and are not consumers under the VPPA,” the judge wrote.
Judge Carter did not grant the plaintiffs leave to amend the initial complaint.
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A proposed class action alleges the websites for each National Football League team have unlawfully shared the personal identifying information of newsletter subscribers with Facebook without consent.
The 49-page complaint alleges the league and NFL Enterprises have run afoul of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a 1988 federal law that prohibits “video tape service providers” from sharing personally identifiable information tied to the “title, description, or subject matter” of video content without valid permission.
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The suit, filed in Manhattan by nine plaintiffs on October 27, claims the NFL and its 32 teams have neither sought nor obtained consent from website visitors and newsletter subscribers to track them or share and exchange their personally identifying video-watching data with Facebook.
“To the extent information about any of the NFL’s Team Website’s data sharing can be located, the language (i) is not presented to users of the site in a transparent manner; (ii) is not made available as part of the sign-up process; and (iii) is not offered to users as checkbox or e-signature field, or as any form of consent.”
According to the filing, the NFL and its team websites utilize tools provided by Facebook to web developers for the purpose of monitoring user interactions, which can then be shared with the social media platform. Examples of these include the Facebook Software Development Kit (SDK) and Facebook pixel, both of which allow a web developer to track a website’s visitors and share their activity, including their Facebook user ID, with the platform, the suit stresses.
Once the NFL has exchanged user data with Facebook, their Facebook user ID becomes available and can be used by anyone to identify the particular Facebook user, leading to their profile page and all the information contained therein, the suit states.
The case charges that any website that utilizes Facebook’s SDK login verification, whereby the site will send an automatic “request” to Facebook in an effort to confirm a user’s login status with the platform, is in violation of the VPPA unless the user has provided consent. Similarly, the Facebook pixel tracks a user’s activity by monitoring for certain events and, when triggered, will automatically send data, including the title of a video, directly to Facebook, the complaint says.
Overall, the NFL’s tracking of team site visitors and subscribers allows Facebook to develop better targeted advertising, the case states.
The lawsuit looks to cover all persons in the United States with a subscription to an NFL team website who had their personal information improperly disclosed to Facebook through the use of the tracking methods outlined in the complaint.
In addition to monetary damages, the case asks the court to force the NFL to immediately remove the outlined tracking methods from its team websites or to begin obtaining proper consent from subscribers before disclosing their video-viewing data to Facebook.
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