CNN class action alleges company shares digital subscriber data with Facebook

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CNN Facebook sharing class action: 

• Who: A CNN.com subscriber sued the news platform’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.
• Why: The plaintiff alleges the company violates the Video Privacy Protection Act by sharing the personally identifiable information of its digital subscribers with Facebook without consent.
• Where: The CNN class action was filed in an Illinois federal court. 

CNN.com shares its digital subscribers’ personal video viewing information with Facebook without their consent and in violation of the law, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Chantele Ganaway filed the class action complaint against Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Sept. 12 in an Illinois federal court, alleging violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). 

Ganaway has digitally subscribed to CNN.com since 2010. However, she alleges that the website’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, violates the VPPA by disclosing its digital subscribers’ identities and video viewing habits to Facebook without the proper consent.

The VPPA prohibits video providers such as CNN.com from knowingly disclosing consumers’ personally identifiable information to third parties without express consent, the CNN class action says. 

However, through a Facebook pixel code installed on CNN.com, the company has been allegedly tracking when digital subscribers enter CNN.com and view video media and sharing that information with Facebookm according to the lawsuit.

“Put simply, the pixel allows Facebook to know what Video Media one of its users viewed on CNN.com,” the CNN class action states. “Thus, without telling its digital subscribers, Defendant profits handsomely from its unauthorized disclosure of its digital subscribers’ Personal Viewing Information to Facebook.”

Digital subscribers don’t know personal info is being shared, CNN class action alleges

Meanwhile, because CNN.com digital subscribers are not informed about this dissemination of their viewing information, they cannot exercise reasonable judgment to defend themselves against the “highly personal ways” CNN.com has used their data to make money for itself, the CNN class action states.

Ganaway looks to represent anyone in the United States with a digital subscription to an online website operated by Warner Bros. Discovery that had their personal viewing information disclosed to Facebook. 

She seeks certification of the class action, damages of $2,500 to each class member, fees, costs and a jury trial. 

This is one of a number of recent class actions lodged against companies that consumers accuse of improperly sharing with Facebook their personal subscriber data. Sony, Forbes, Paramount and HGTV all face similar claims. 

Are you a CNN.com subscriber affected by these allegations? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Brandon M. Wise and Adam Florek of Peiffer Wold Carr Kane Conway & Wise LLP and Patrick Muench and Michael L. Murphy of Bailey & Glasser LLP.

The CNN class action lawsuit is Chantele Ganaway v. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., Case No. 1:22-cv-04929, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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