District Court Dismisses VPPA Class-Action Claims Against HBO

Putative class-action Video Privacy Protection Act claims against HBO will be dismissed and the case will proceed into arbitration, said a U.S. District Court in Manhattan judge in an order Friday (docket 1:22-cv-01942). The order also stayed the case pending the arbitration and denied a motion to appoint class counsel from the plaintiffs, two HBO Max subscribers who argue HBO gave information about their viewing behavior to Facebook without consent (see 2205020055). The subscribers agreed to arbitration and waived class action as part of the terms of use they agreed to when buying HBO Max subscriptions, the opinion said. The subscribers argued they weren’t bound by those terms because they bought them through a third party, but the court ruled they were given an opportunity to review them when they registered for HBO Max: “That they may not have done so is irrelevant; the terms were conspicuously presented for their review.”