Hot Topic class action alleges website records private chat conversations

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Hot Topic class action overview: 

• Who: A Hot Topic customer is suing the retail company. 
• Why: The plaintiff says the company illegally records the private chat conversations of those using the chat function on its website. 
• Where: The Hot Topic class action was filed in a California federal court.

Hot Topic secretly wiretaps the private conversations of everyone who communicates through the chat feature on its website and pays a third party to eavesdrop on the chats in real time to harvest data for financial gain, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Arisha Byars filed the class action lawsuit against Hot Topic Inc. Sept. 20 in a California federal court, alleging violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA).

According to the lawsuit, as well as eavesdropping on the chats of people using www.hottopic.com, the company also neglects to obtain visitors’ consent to either the wiretapping or the eavesdropping. 

As a result, Hot Topic has violated CIPA in numerous ways, Byars alleges.

Hot Topic class action alleges company secretly embeds recording code in chat feature 

To enable the wiretapping, Hot Topic covertly embedded code into its chat feature that automatically records and creates transcripts of the private conversations, Byars alleges. 

To enable the eavesdropping, the retailer paid “substantial sums” to independent, third-party company Gladly to embed code into its website chat function that enables Gladly to secretly intercept in real time, eavesdrop upon and store transcripts of chat communications with unsuspecting website visitors, the Hot Topic class action alleges.

Gladly publicly boasts of its ability to harvest valuable data from such communications for the benefit of their clients, the lawsuit claims.

“Given the nature of Defendant’s business, visitors often share highly sensitive personal data with Defendant via the website chat feature,” the Hot Topic class action states. “Visitors would be shocked and appalled to know that Defendant secretly records those conversations and pays a third party to eavesdrop on them in real time under the guise of ‘data analytics.’”

Byars seeks to represent anyone in the United States who used the chat feature on the Hot Topic website and whose communications were recorded and/or eavesdropped upon without prior consent.

She requests certification of the class action lawsuit, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial. 

In 2019, Hot Topic agreed to pay $2.9 million to resolve class action claims that the clothing retailer sends advertising text messages even when customers specifically decline to be contacted via text.

Have you used the chat feature on the Hot Topic website? Let us know your thoughts on the lawsuit in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Scott J. Ferrell of Pacific Trial Attorneys, APC.

The Hot Topic class action lawsuit is Arisha Byars v. Hot Topic Inc. et al., Case No. 5:22-cv-01652, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

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