SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Facebook's parent company has won dismissal of a proposed class action lawsuit that claims Facebook Live violates the Video Privacy Protection Act.
California federal judge Jon Tigar granted plaintiff Justin Walker leave to amend his VPPA claim within 30 days of his March 3 order dismissing his claims. He may do so in regard to prerecorded video content he accessed but not live video he watched, because live video content does not fall within "similar audio visual materials" as defined by the VPPA.
Walker and attorneys at Lynch Carpenter failed to allege Meta disclosed Walker's "personally identifying information" and did not allege he viewed any prerecorded content, the ruling says.
"Walker contends that Facebook subscribers are not capable of distinguishing whether the video content they accessed via Facebook Premiere is prerecorded or live because Facebook Premiere displays prerecorded video as if it were being broadcast live, and because viewers of Facebook Premiere prerecorded content are able to 'interact' with the prerecorded content in the same manner that they would be able to interact with live video content," Tigar wrote.
"This argument misses the point. That Walker may have confused prerecorded video content with live video content says nothing about whether Meta allegedly disclosed information that could reveal his video-watching behavior with respect to Facebook Premiere recordings, which is the relevant inquiry under the second element for a claim..."
The suit does not allege Meta displays the names of viewers of recordings to other Facebook users who view the same, as it allegedly does during Facebook Live broadcasts, Tigar wrote.
Meta Platforms transferred the class action case to San Francisco federal court on April 20, a month after it was filed in San Mateo County Superior Court. The case accuses Facebook of disclosing subscribers’ personally identifiable information without their consent.
The VPPA prohibits video tape service providers from disclosing such information, the suit says, but Facebook Live broadcasts users’ full names and the specific video materials or services they viewed on Live.