Bloomberg Law
Sept. 19, 2022, 2:18 PM

NBA Hit With Claims It Shares Personal Information With Facebook

Peter Hayes
Peter Hayes
Reporter

The NBA discloses to Facebook the identities and personal viewing information of digital subscribers to NBA.com without the users’ consent, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Lead plaintiff Michael Salazar alleges that the NBA is violating the Video Privacy Protection Act by sharing personal information of visitors to its website and mobile app, according to the complaint filed Sept. 16 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The VPPA prohibits video tape service providers from knowingly disclosing “personally-identifying information” concerning any consumer to a third-party without the consumer’s consent.

When a user watches a video on its website or app, NBA.com sends the name of the video, the URL, and the digital subscriber’s Facebook ID to Meta Platforms Inc., which then uses that information to show the user targeted ads, the complaint alleges.

Cause of Action: Video Privacy Protection Act.

Relief: Declaratory and injunctive relief; actual damages, or statutory damages of not less than $2,500 per plaintiff; punitive damages; attorneys’ fees and costs.

Potential Class Size: The complaint alleges hundreds of thousands of class members throughout the US.

Response: The NBA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Attorneys: Bailey & Glasser LLP represents Salazar and the proposed class.

The case is Salazar v. Nat’l Basketball Ass’n, S.D.N.Y., No. 22-cv-07935, complaint filed 9/16/22.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Hayes in Washington at PHayes@bloomberglaw.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rob Tricchinelli at rtricchinelli@bloomberglaw.com; Brian Flood at bflood@bloomberglaw.com

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