A class action lawsuit filed in New York on Friday claims Paramount illegally shared Paramount+ users’ data with third-party apps like Facebook and TikTok. The lawsuit is seeking at least $5 million in damages.
Paramount, the lawsuit claims, “deprived” Paramount+ subscribers of their “privacy rights and control over their personal information.” Those customers were unaware that their information — including everything they watched on Paramount+ — was being shared with outside parties, according to the lawsuit obtained by TheWrap.
Reps for Paramount did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The service “knowingly and intentionally” failed to notify users their information was being shared with Facebook and TikTok — violating a federal law in the process, the lawsuit claims, that bars companies from sharing user data without consent.
Data transmissions to outside social apps were “completely invisible” to users, the suit claims; the reason, the lawsuit adds, “is simple — it financially benefits [Paramount] in the form of advertising and information services that [it] would otherwise have to pay for.”
Earlier this year, Paramount+ reported it had 71.2 million subscribers. The service is home to originals like Sly Stallone’s “Tulsa King,” as well as “Yellowstone” spinoff series “1883” and “1923” from creator Taylor Sheridan. Paramount+ is also home to shows from a number of networks, including CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
