MUBI Subscribers’ Personal Data Illegally Shared with Third Parties, Class Action Alleges
Sarkar v. MUBI, Inc.
Filed: December 12, 2023 ◆§ 1:23-cv-10797
A class action claims movie streaming service MUBI has secretly shared its subscribers’ personal data with Facebook, Google and other third parties without consent.
New York General Business Law California Unfair Competition Law Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988
New York
A proposed class action claims movie streaming service MUBI has secretly shared its subscribers’ personal data with Facebook, Google and other third parties without consent.
Are you a California, Illinois or Massachusetts resident who’s watched movies on MUBI? Do you have a Facebook account? Let us know here.
The 27-page lawsuit alleges that in violation of the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA)—which prohibits a “video tape service provider” from knowingly disclosing consumers’ private data without consent—MUBI intentionally transmits to unauthorized third parties subscribers’ personally identifying information and video-viewing records each time they use MUBI.com or the platform’s mobile app.
The case contends that MUBI has captured and shared subscriber data through a host of third-party tracking tools—including Facebook’s Conversions API, the Meta pixel, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and more—that the company has embedded into its website and app. Per the complaint, the invisible tracking technologies automatically record a user’s every interaction with the platform, such as the names of specific videos they search, click on or watch.
In addition, the filing relays that the tracking software also discloses subscribers’ unique Facebook IDs, strings of numbers that can be used to locate their Facebook profiles. By sharing a user’s Facebook ID, MUBI provides enough information to identify that individual and link them to their video viewing behavior, the lawsuit charges.
The suit argues that the company’s choice to install tracking tools in its website and app was entirely intentional.
“[MUBI] controlled which data was tracked, recorded, and transmitted when its subscribers requested or viewed video content, and it could have anonymized the information and titles of the video content it hosts,” the case says.
According to the complaint, MUBI never obtained express written consent to share subscribers’ data with third parties, in direct violation of the VPPA’s requirements.
The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States with a Facebook or Google account who registered for a MUBI account and viewed videos on the streaming platform.
Are you a California, Illinois or Massachusetts resident who’s watched movies on MUBI? Do you have a Facebook account? Let us know here.
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