A Blockbuster-Era Video Law Is Being Used To Ding Big-Name Brands Like General Mills, Geico, and Chick-fil-A With Privacy Lawsuits

Companies including General Mills, Chick-fil-A, and Geico are facing lawsuits under the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) for allegedly passing personal information about video viewers to third parties through tracking technologies like Meta’s Pixel or Google Analytics. VPPA cases have traditionally targeted video rental providers, but now advertisers hosting marketing videos on their websites are under scrutiny. While some early cases have been dismissed, the threat of VPPA lawsuits remains, with at least 70 class action suits filed in the past year, and experts recommend securing user consent and reconfiguring tracking technologies as precautions.