• by Wendy Davis , November 6, 2025

Five parents of young children have sued Paramount Skydance and its streaming service Pluto TV for allegedly sharing children's video-viewing information with Google and Microsoft.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that Pluto TV's website carries Google and Microsoft tracking pixels that transmit personally identifiable video-viewing information about children who watch the site's "kids" section.

"One would hope that websites catering to children would be especially careful to avoid sharing information about those children with advertisers, or at the very least, to be upfront with parents about the information they give away, so parents can decide whether the website is appropriate," the parents allege in a class-action complaint.

"Unfortunately, that is sometimes not the case," the complaint continues.

The parents allege that website operators using the tracking pixels "participate in Google and Microsoft’s mass surveillance network and, in turn, benefit from Google and Microsoft’s collection of user data at the expense of their customers’ privacy." (Google and Microsoft are not named as defendants in the case.)

"When Google and Microsoft receive information about an individual’s media preferences and educational attainment, they compile it into an evergrowing advertising profile specific to the individual which they use to stream tailored ads to that person’s computers and smartphones based on the individual’s demography, interests, goals, and anxieties," the complaint asserts.

The parents -- residents of California, Illinois, New Jersey and Indiana -- claim that Paramount Skydance and Pluto are violating various federal and state privacy laws, including the federal Video Privacy Protection Act. That statute, passed in 1988, prohibits video providers from disclosing personally identifiable information about viewers, without their consent.

Paramount Skydance declined to comment on the lawsuit.