NBCUniversal Defeats Video Privacy Suit Over Meta Info Sharing

NBCUniversal Media LLC defeated a long-running proposed class action alleging it disclosed the video-watching histories of consumers to Meta Platforms Inc. in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act.

Lead plaintiff Sherhonda Golden failed to adequately allege that NBCUniversal disclosed her personally identifiable information within the meaning of the VPPA, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said Wednesday.

Engelmayer granted NBCUniversal’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice.

Golden alleged in the 2022 lawsuit that NBCUniversal incorporated a tracking tool from Meta’s Facebook unit on its website, allowing the social media company to collect information arising from user interactions there, including their Facebook IDs and the titles of videos they had watched.

The VPPA prohibits providers of video content from disclosing information to third parties allowing consumers to be linked to videos they’ve watched or requested.

Engelmayer had granted NBCUniversal’s earlier motions to dismiss on the ground that Golden failed to adequately allege she was a “consumer” under the VPPA, but Golden was able to revive the lawsuit after the Second Circuit ruled in Salazar v. National Basketball Association that a subscription linked to a digital newsletter offering video content could establish consumer status under the statute.

‘Ordinary Person’

NBCUniversal argued that Golden’s amended complaint should be dismissed because the information disclosed to Facebook wasn’t the kind that an ordinary consumer could use to identify her video-watching behavior.

This was the interpretation of “personally identifiable information” adopted by the Second Circuit in Solomon v. Flipps Media Inc., the company said. Engelmayer agreed.

Golden alleged that NBCUniversal disclosed her Facebook ID, URLs, and her video-watching history in computer code transmitted to Facebook, but the code included in the complaint was interspersed with letters, numbers, and characters “unintelligible to ordinary persons,” he said.

The complaint doesn’t explain how an ordinary person could discern the plaintiffs’ Facebook ID and the titles of the videos she had watched from the strings of code, he said.

“Disclosures comprehensible only to Facebook or other sophisticated actors are not PII,” he said.

Engelmayer also dismissed Golden’s unjust enrichment claim as duplicative of the VPPA claim.

Golden is represented by Bailey & Glasser LLP. NBCUniversal is represented by ZwillGen PLLC.

The case is Golden v. NBCUniversal Media LLC, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:22-cv-09858, order 9/3/25.