Hulu Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Close to Certification Decision

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

UPDATE: The Hulu privacy class action lawsuit was dismissed by a California federal judge on March 31, 2015. The plaintiffs filed an appeal on April 15, 2015.

UPDATE 2: On Oct. 23, 2015, both parties voluntarily agreed to drop the appeal to the Hulu video privacy class action lawsuit

A class action lawsuit accusing Hulu.com of illegally sharing users’ viewing history with Facebook Inc. and other companies may be close to certification according to court documents filed Tuesday. If certified, millions of consumers will be affected by the outcome of the case, which will set standards for how websites are allowed to share users’ video viewing habits with third parties.

U.S. District Judge Laurel Beeler, who has been overseeing the massive privacy class action lawsuit since 2012, rescheduled a May 15 Motion Hearing on Class Certification to Thursday, May 8 at 9:30 a.m. Beeler indicated she has a “few follow-up questions” on the motion for Class Certification, which could indicate she’s ready to make a decision.

Plaintiffs in the Hulu class action lawsuit are seeking to represent all U.S. residents who, from April 21, 2010 through June 7, 2012, were registered users of Hulu.com, including Hulu Plus subscribers, and requested and/or obtained video materials and/or services on Hulu.com.

The Hulu class action lawsuit accuses the company of illegally tracking users’ online activity via “zombie cookies” that re-spawned even when users cleared their Internet browsing histories, and then disclosing what they watched to third parties without prior consent. According to plaintiffs, this violates the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), which prohibits Videotape Service Providers from knowingly disclosing “personally identifiable information” that “identifies a person as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services.”

Hulu has tried multiple times to have the privacy class action lawsuit dismissed, first arguing that it is not a brick-and-mortar store and therefore is not a “Videotape Service Provider” under VPPA. Beeler rejected this argument, pointing out that the law was about the privacy of individuals’ viewing records, not the form or method of video delivery.

On April 28, Beeler granted Hulu’s motion for summary judgment, in part, by dismissing plaintiffs’ claims that the video streaming website disclosed users’ information to metrics company comScore Inc.

“The comScore disclosures were anonymous disclosures that hypothetically could have been linked to video watching,” the order said. “That is not enough to establish a VPPA violation.”

Beeler refused to dismiss claims that the same disclosures to Facebook were anonymous, saying: “certain information was transmitted from hulu.com to Facebook via the Facebook ‘Like’ button.’ [Although] no evidence has been introduced that Facebook took any actions with the cookies described above…Plaintiffs’ expert opines that Hulu’s disclosure to Facebook of cookie identifiers set by Facebook’s domain enabled Facebook to link information identifying the user and the user’s video choices to other information about the particular user.”

Top Class Actions will continue to provide updates on the Hulu privacy class action lawsuit as they’re made available. Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also mark this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.

The plaintiffs are represented by Parisi & Havens LLP, KamberLaw LLC, Strange and Carpenter and the Law Offices of Joseph H. Malley

The Hulu Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Hulu Privacy Litigation, Case No. 3:11-cv-03764, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.