Crunchyroll Class Action Lawsuit alleges viewing-history disclosures, response remains absent

Sunday at 11: 00 a. m. ET, Crunchyroll faced renewed legal pressure after a crunchyroll class action lawsuit alleged violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) tied to the disclosure of users’ anime viewing habits and identifiers to a third party. Still, Crunchyroll has not responded publicly to the lawsuit as of that time, and the next clarifying step will come from court filings or a company statement addressing the claims.

Crunchyroll and Braze allegations in the crunchyroll class action lawsuit

The filing targets Crunchyroll’s alleged handling of user data inside its app, focusing on an embedded software development kit (SDK) associated with the marketing company Braze. Plaintiffs argue that, without consumer consent, Crunchyroll knowingly disclosed personally identifiable information to a third party, including email addresses, device IDs, and the anime titles—down to the episode—being streamed.

That allegation is framed as a VPPA issue. The VPPA is described as prohibiting the disclosure of “video rental records containing personally identifiable information, ” with enumerated exceptions that include disclosure to the consumer, disclosure with written consent, and disclosures compelled by warrants, subpoenas, or specific court orders, among other listed circumstances.

Plaintiffs also assert that the data transfers enabled targeted notifications and marketing messages tied to a subscriber’s viewing history. The complaint’s characterization is that repeated transmissions during multiple viewing sessions could allow the creation of comprehensive profiles of a user’s viewing behavior. For now, those are allegations made in the lawsuit, not findings by a court.

What is confirmed, and what remains unconfirmed as of 11: 00 a. m. ET

Confirmed: Crunchyroll has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging VPPA violations connected to the sharing of viewing information and identifiers with Braze through the Crunchyroll app. Confirmed: the suit describes the challenged data as including email addresses, device IDs, and specific anime titles being watched, and it links the alleged disclosures to app-embedded tools used for marketing-related functions such as notifications, in-app messages, and email campaigns.

Unconfirmed as of 11: 00 a. m. ET: whether Crunchyroll disputes the factual premise that such data was transmitted without consent, and whether Crunchyroll believes an exception under the VPPA applies. Unconfirmed as of 11: 00 a. m. ET: whether the court will accept the plaintiffs’ framing that the alleged disclosures fall outside the statute’s exceptions, or whether Crunchyroll will argue that the transmissions were permissible under an “ordinary course of business” rationale referenced in the statute summary included in coverage.

Also unresolved as of 11: 00 a. m. ET is Crunchyroll’s public posture. Coverage states the company had not responded to the lawsuit or to a request for comment made with advance notice. Without a formal response on the record in the provided material, the dispute currently exists primarily as a set of claims in a complaint versus the absence of a company rebuttal.

The 2023 VPPA settlement and the triggers that will clarify the new case

Confirmed: the current allegations arrive after Crunchyroll settled a similar VPPA lawsuit in 2023. One account describes that earlier matter as involving a $16 million settlement tied to the use of the Facebook Pixel tool, and it states that Crunchyroll agreed at the time to refrain from such tracking practices. Another account characterizes the earlier dispute as “similar” VPPA violations. Those points matter now because the new complaint describes the present conduct as “particularly egregious” in light of that prior settlement.

Yet the key uncertainties in the new case will not be resolved by the existence of the earlier settlement alone. Instead, the next observable triggers that will clarify the picture are procedural and documentary:

• A Crunchyroll response in court filings, or a public statement acknowledging or disputing the allegations.
• Any court action that narrows the case, such as rulings addressing whether the plaintiffs’ VPPA theory can proceed under the statute’s exceptions described in the coverage.
• Any clarified record—through filings—on what data was transmitted, when it began, and whether consumers provided consent, since the complaint alleges disclosure without consent since at least 2022.

The stakes also depend on how the alleged data is characterized. The lawsuit’s theory turns on whether the combination of identifiers (like email addresses and device IDs) with viewing information (anime titles and episodes) constitutes personally identifiable “video rental records” under the VPPA and whether any exception is applicable. Those determinations require either a defense position from Crunchyroll or court rulings that accept or reject the plaintiffs’ framing.

The next confirmed event that would move the story is Crunchyroll’s first on-the-record response to the complaint—through a court filing or an official statement—because it will indicate which facts are disputed and which legal exceptions Crunchyroll may invoke. If Crunchyroll confirms it will contest the allegations, further court decisions are expected to determine whether the case proceeds as a class action under the VPPA framework described in the coverage.