Beachbody Class Action Lawsuit Says Workout Viewer Info Sold

Beachbody is facing a class action lawsuit that accuses the company of violating customers’ privacy by disclosing their personal information to third parties without obtaining consent.

Lead plaintiff Heather W. Carbone says the company sells, rents or otherwise discloses the personal information, transaction and viewing history of its customers to various third parties in order to supplement its revenue, thereby violating the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

Carbone says she purchased Beachbody workout videos, including “Brazil Butt Lift,” from the defendant within the last 24 months. She placed the orders via the phone number provided in the company’s infomercials.

She claims the company never told her it would disclose any customer information, including hers, to any third party, and she has never consented or authorized such a disclosure.

However, Carbone says, her information was shared with data miners, marketing companies and other third parties. The disclosed information allegedly included Carbone’s name, address, age, gender and the fact that she purchased videos such as “Brazil Butt Lift.”

The plaintiff alleges that these third parties then turned around and sold, rented or otherwise disclosed her personal viewing information and demographic data to other third parties, such as data miners, data aggregators and marketers.

As a result of the transmission of her data, Carbone says she now receives “unwarranted and harassing” junk mail from companies and organizations that don’t offer services via mail. This has wasted her time, money and other resources, she says.

The plaintiff maintains that because she is entitled to privacy by law, she was deprived of the full benefits and value she was owed through her purchase of the Beachbody workout videos.

She says she would not have purchased the Beachbody workout videos or would have paid less for them had she known her personal viewing information would be disclosed.

As it is, Carbone says she didn’t discover the disclosure of her information until August 2020.

“The VPPA clearly prohibits what Defendant has done,” the class action lawsuit says.

As a result of Beachbody’s alleged disclosure of customers’ personal viewing information, anyone is able to buy a list of names and addresses of, for example, all women over 40 who live in Florida and have purchased a DVD titled “Yoga Booty Ballet” from Beachbody during the last year. 

“Such a list is available for sale for approximately $110 per thousand customers listed,” the class action lawsuit states.

The VPPA provides that any “video tape service provider” that knowingly discloses personally identifiable information without first obtaining prior written informed consent shall be held liable, according to the class action lawsuit.

The VPPA authorizes liquidated damages of $2,500 per violation “and equitable relief,” the class action lawsuit states. 

Carbone’s class action lawsuit says data aggregation is especially troublesome when the information is sold to direct-mail advertisers.

Not only does it cause waste and inconvenience, the advertisers often use consumers’ information to lure people into scams, such as fraudulent sweepstakes and buying clubs.

Disclosures such as the ones allegedly made by Beachbody are especially dangerous to the elderly, who are often targeted because they are often home, rely on delivery services and “are lonely for the companionship that telephone callers provide.”

“Indeed, an entire black market exists while the personal information of vulnerable elderly Americans is exchanged,” the class action lawsuit says, citing information from the Federal Trade Commission. “Thus, information disclosures like Defendant’s are particularly troublesome because of their cascading nature: “Once marked as receptive to [a specific] type of spam, a consumer is often bombarded with similar fraudulent offers from a host of scam artists.”

The proposed Class includes anyone in the U.S. whose personal viewing information was disclosed to a third party by Beachbody at any point during the applicable period.

Carbone demands a jury trial and seeks an order declaring Beachbody’s alleged conduct violates the VPPA; $2,500 per violation for herself and each Class Member, as provided under the VPPA; punitive damages; prejudgment interest; restitution and “all other forms of equitable monetary relief”; injunctive relief; and reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs.

Have you purchased Beachbody workout videos? Do you believe your personal viewing information may have been disclosed? Tell us your experience in the comments below.

The plaintiff is represented by James J. Reardon Jr. of Reardon Scanlon LLP; Frank S. Hedin and David W. Hall of Hedin Hall LLP; and Joseph I. Marchese and Philip L. Fraietta of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Beachbody Workout Videos Class Action Lawsuit is Heather W. Carbone, et al. v. Beachbody LLC, Case No. 1:20-cv-11608, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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