Twitter Class Action Takes Issue with Profile-Trading App

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Twitter Inc. and online gaming company Hey Inc. have been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing them of violating consumers’ publicity rights by authorizing an app that allows users buy and trade the full names and profile pictures of Twitter users.

According to the Twitter privacy class action lawsuit, Hey operates an app that allows users to “collect the profiles of real-life people as if they were baseball cards.”

Plaintiff Jason Parker of Alabama asserts that most of the people featured in the profile-trading app never agreed to participate, and are only involved because Twitter shared their profiles with the app maker without their consent.

Parker alleges that Twitter and Hey entered a partnership in June 2015, and Twitter imported users’ accounts into the app.

Under the terms of the partnership, Twitter reportedly provided Hey with a license to access its proprietary application programming interface (API).

“Since acquiring access, Hey has used Twitter’s API to import the identities—including names and personal photographs—of Twitter users into the App without their knowledge or consent,” the Twitter class action lawsuit alleges. “From there, Hey used the Twitter users’ names and pictures in profile cards that are listed in the App and collected and traded by the players.”

The Hey app was initially dubbed “Stolen,” according to the Twitter profile trading app class action lawsuit.

Stolen reportedly encouraged players to use virtual currency to “buy,” “own,” and “steal” people. After receiving intense scrutiny for its practices, Hey re-branded the app under the name “Famous: The Celebrity Twitter” and changed the language of the app so that players “invest” in people instead of stealing them.

Hey reportedly changed its virtual currency to “hearts,” which users can purchase with real money.

Despite the rebranding, the app’s functionality has not changed, according to the Twitter class action lawsuit.

The app allegedly “still coopts the full names and photographs of real-life Twitter users without their consent, and still allows its players to display ownership over real-life people by spending virtual currency.”

Parker accuses Twitter of exploiting its users for a commercial benefit without their consent. He asserts that this conduct violates Alabama’s Right of Publicity Act, which recognizes the right of Alabama residents to exercise control over their identities and protects them from commercial exploitation.

By filing the Twitter class action lawsuit, Parker wants to put an end to the practice of sharing Twitter users’ profile information without their consent. He seeks an injunction requiring Twitter to revoke Hey’s API access, as well as actual damages, statutory damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Parker seeks to represent a Class of Alabama residents whose Twitter profiles have appeared in the “Stolen” or “Famous: The Celebrity Twitter App” without their consent.

The plaintiff is represented by Stewart R. Pollock of Edelson PC.

The Twitter Profile Trading App Class Action Lawsuit is Jason Parker, et al. v. Hey Inc., et al., Case No. 3:16-cv-04884, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.