Paramount+, Plaintiffs Clash Over Motion to Dismiss VPPA Suit

A Video Privacy Protection Act complaint brought by Paramount+ subscribers doesn't plausibly allege the streaming service disclosed personally identifiable information, let alone knowingly, the streamer said Thursday in a reply in support of its motion to dismiss (docket 1:22-cv-03666). A cookie doesn't constitute PII within VPPA because it's not decipherable by ordinary people, it said. Even if it were PII, that cookie was authorized by the plaintiff and put there by Facebook and it was that cookie disclosing the information, Paramount told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Last month in opposition to the motion to dismiss, the plaintiffs said Congress clearly intended PII under VPPA "to be broadly construed." It said since Paramount is the one that installed the Facebook tracking pixel, its claim it had no knowledge of the disclosure "is unconvincing." Video-streaming services are facing an array of VPPA suits (see 2210260008).