VPPA Suits vs. DotDash Meredith, iHeartMedia Filed by Same Lawyers

Law firms Shamis & Gentile and Edelsberg Law filed two class actions Wednesday alleging two major media companies are guilty of Video Privacy Protection Act wrongdoing. Plaintiff Michelle Harris-Shields of Fayette County, Kentucky, alleged in her complaint (docket 1:23-cv-00851) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York that DotDash Meredith, publisher of Entertainment Weekly and owner of the EW.com website, violated the VPPA by disclosing its digital subscribers’ personal viewing without their proper consent. Hernando County, Florida, plaintiff Gloria Talley, in her class action (docket 8:23-cv-00215) in the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, alleges virtually identical conduct on the part of iHeartMedia, owner of iHeart.com. Both companies are “video tape service providers” under the scope of the VPPA, which prohibits them from knowingly disclosing consumers’ personally identifiable information without “express consent in a stand-alone consent form,” say the two complaints. The defendants use the personal viewing information “to build more targeted advertising” on their websites, in turn generating “greater revenue” and profits, they say. In each case, the defendant “reaps these secret profits at the expense of its digital subscribers’ privacy and their statutory rights under VPPA,” say the complaints. They seek injunctive relief, restitution and statutory and punitive damages. Neither DotDash Meredith nor iHeartMedia commented Thursday.