• by Ray Schultz , September 8, 2024

BuzzFeed has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit charging it with sharing information on visitors with Facebook, in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act. 

The settlement includes a $9 million payment by BuzzFeed, according to a page set up for consumers who accessed a video through a BuzzFeed website between May 2021 and November 2023, and might be entitled to a payment, Top Class Actions reports. 

The suit, titled Peters vs. BuzzFeed, alleges that BuzzFeed “disclosed its subscribers’ personally identifiable information (PII) to Facebook, without consent of subscribers, thus violating the Video Privacy Protection Act,” the page states. It was filed earlier this year. 

A court hearing has been set for October 18 to approve the settlement. 

A separate class-action case, alleging that BuzzFeed violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act by installing trackers on website visitors’ internet browsers.

The case, titled Chih-Yuan Chang vs. BuzzFeed, was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff in August. It was not clear what the terms were, if any. 

The trackers included the Sharethrough Tracker, IQM Tracker, and Dotomi Tracker. Because they capture routing, addressing or signaling information, each constitutes a “pen register,” the complaint states. Pen registers, which are used by law enforcement, cannot be installed without a court order, it adds.