Legal Investigation: Is Bodybuilding.com Violating Website Users’ Privacy?
Last Updated on February 23, 2024
At A Glance
- This Alert Affects:
- Facebook users who bought a subscription to Bodybuilding.com’s BodyFit program and streamed workout videos on the website within the past two years.
- What’s Going On?
- Attorneys working with ClassAction.org have reason to believe that Bodybuilding.com may be using a tracking tool to secretly transmit details about certain users and the videos they’ve watched to Facebook. They’re now gathering paid BodyFit subscribers to take action over potential privacy violations.
- What You Can Do
- If you’re a Facebook user who bought a BodyFit subscription and streamed workout videos on Bodybuilding.com within the past two years, join others taking action by filling out the form linked below.
- What Am I Signing Up For, Exactly?
- You’re signing up for what’s known as “mass arbitration,” which involves hundreds or thousands of consumers bringing individual arbitration claims against the same company at the same time and over the same issue. This is different from class action litigation and takes place outside of court.
- Does This Cost Anything?
- It costs nothing to sign up, and the attorneys will only get paid if they win your claim.
- How Much Could I Get?
- While there are no guarantees, the federal Video Privacy Protection Act states that consumers who had their rights violated under the law could be owed $2,500.
Are you a Facebook user who has streamed exercise videos on Bodybuilding.com?
If so, join others taking action. It doesn’t cost anything, and all you have to do is fill out a quick form using the link below.
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org suspect that the operator of Bodybuilding.com may have violated the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing consumers’ private information without permission and are now looking into possible legal action.
Specifically, they believe that Bodybuilding.com may be using a tracking tool to secretly transmit details about certain users and the videos they’ve watched to Facebook. This data may tie a user’s watch history to their Facebook ID, a unique identifier that can be used to match the individual to their Facebook profile.
So, if you have a subscription to Bodybuilding.com’s BodyFit program, watched workout videos on the site within the past two years and you also have a Facebook account, join others taking action by filling out this quick, secure form. You may have a claim worth as much as $2,500.
How Could Bodybuilding.com Be Sharing Data with Facebook?
Many website operators gather data about the people who visit their websites by using an invisible tracking tool called the Meta (formerly known as Facebook) pixel.
The pixel, which can be embedded on any webpage, can be programmed to record every action a visitor takes, such as the buttons they click, the searches they perform and the content they view.
In the case of Bodybuilding.com, attorneys are specifically looking into whether the website is tracking which videos its users have watched and sending that information to Meta along with each person’s Facebook ID. A Facebook ID is a unique identifier linked to an individual’s Facebook profile and could potentially be used to match up a specific person with their video watch history.
In general, the data collected by a website through the Meta pixel can be used by both the website operator and the social media giant to better target advertisements to their users.
It’s believed that Bodybuilding.com’s suspected data sharing practices may violate the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits “video tape service providers” from disclosing to third parties any information that identifies the video materials a person has requested or watched without their consent.
Is This a Lawsuit? What Am I Signing Up For, Exactly?
You are not signing up for a lawsuit, but rather a process known as mass arbitration. This is a relatively new legal technique that, like a class action lawsuit, allows a large group of people to take action and seek compensation from a company over an alleged wrongdoing. Here is a quick explanation of mass arbitration from our blog:
“[M]ass arbitration occurs when hundreds or thousands of consumers file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue at the same time. The aim of a mass arbitration proceeding is to grant relief on a large scale (similar to a class action lawsuit) for those who sign up.”
Bodybuilding.com’s terms of use contain a clause that states visitors to the site agree to resolve “most disputes” through arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution that takes place outside of court before a neutral arbitrator, as opposed to a judge or jury.
It’s for this reason that attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to handle this matter as a mass arbitration rather than a class action lawsuit.
How Much Does This Cost?
It costs nothing to sign up, and you’ll only need to pay if the attorneys win money on your behalf. Their payment will come as a percentage of your award.
If they don’t win your claim, you don’t pay.
How Much Money Could I Get?
There are no guarantees as to how much money you could get or whether your claim will be successful. The VPPA, however, provides that companies may be responsible for paying consumers $2,500 for violations of the law.
Sign Up and Take Action
If you’re a BodyFit subscriber who has streamed workout videos on Bodybuilding.com within the past two years and you also have a Facebook account, sign up today by filling out this quick, secure form.
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