Scientific American Unable To Kick VPPA Class Action

In a notable development for corporate defendants grappling with consumer privacy litigation, the Southern District of New York has recently issued a decision in Lee v. Springer Nature America, Inc., embracing a broadened view of potential liability for defendants under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). This ruling should serve as a cautionary tale for companies leveraging digital marketing tools, especially social media pixels.

Mark Lee filed a putative class action against Springer Nature America, alleging violations of the VPPA for disclosing subscribers' video viewing data to Meta Platforms, Inc., via the Meta Pixel, without obtaining prior informed written consent. Springer, a scientific publisher that operates the website ScientificAmerican.com, allegedly integrated the Pixel into its website to transmit users' video-viewing activities, including Facebook IDs (FID) and URLs of accessed videos, directly to Meta.