Peloton class action claims company wiretaps, eavesdrops on customer website chats

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Peloton class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: Plaintiff Julie Jones filed a class action lawsuit against Peloton Interactive Inc.
• Why: Peloton allegedly enables a third party to eavesdrop on and collect information from customers’ private conversations on the Peloton website chat without their knowledge or consent.
• Where: The Peloton class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
• ​​What are my options: Try Macy’s for alternatives to Peloton.

Peloton Interactive Inc. violates California law by allowing third-party software to eavesdrop on conversations in its chat feature in order to use the data for financial gain without consumers’ consent, a Peloton class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Julie Jones filed the Peloton class action lawsuit June 9 in California federal court on behalf of herself and others in California who used the chat feature on the Peloton website and whose communications were eavesdropped on or recorded by a third party without prior consent.

Peloton website allows third party to eavesdrop on and store transcripts of customer chats

Jones claims that Peloton has embedded a third-party’s code that enables the third party to secretly eavesdrop on, interpret, analyze, store, and utilize transcripts of Peloton website chat communications without consumers’ knowledge or consent.

Specifically, Jones points to Drift as an independent third party that intercepts chat communications on the Peloton website in real time, claiming that “this is accomplished because the imbedded code directs those communications to be routed directly to Drift.”

When customers utilize the chat feature on the Peloton website, they are allegedly not notified that the chat is run from Drift’s servers. From a customer’s experience, it appears that they are only communicating with a Peloton representative, Jones explains.

Customers would be ‘shocked and appalled’ at the amount of data third party captures from Peloton website chat, plaintiff says

The Peloton class action lawsuit alleges that Drift purportedly analyzes chat conversations to assess the likelihood that a consumer will purchase a product or service from Peloton. Drift also allegedly captures more data about the consumer, including their IP addresses, the browser they are using, the device they are using, and website visitors’ activities during and after the chat session.

Jones says visitors would be “shocked and appalled” by the amount of information captured by the third parties and how that information is used for its own business purposes.

The Peloton class action lawsuit asserts claims for violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), aiding and abetting violations of CIPA, violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law, and invasion of privacy. 

Earlier this year, Peloton recalled more than 2 million exercise bikes due to reports of the bike’s seat post breaking during use, causing injury to at least a dozen people.

Have you used the chat feature on the Peloton website? Tell us what you think of this class action lawsuit in the comments!

Jones is represented by Ronald A. Marron, Alexis M. Wood, and Kas L. Gallucci of Law Offices of Ronald A. Marron, and by Brandon M. Wise of Pfeiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise LLP.

The Peloton website class action lawsuit is Julie Jones, et al. v. Peloton Interactive Inc., Case No. 3:23-cv-01082-LAB-BGS, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

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