Ubisoft is facing a lawsuit for allegedly sharing user data from the Ubisoft Store and Ubisoft+ subscription service to Facebook and Instagram owner Meta.
The class action complaint claims that Ubisoft was sharing personally identifiable information with Meta each time a user purchased a game on the Ubisoft Store and Ubisoft+ service using the Pixel user tracking software — a practice that was never disclosed to users.
This practice violates the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, which was passed to end “wrongful disclosure of video tape rental or sale records.” The law was amended in 2013, which then allowed streaming networks to share personally identifiable data, but only if the users agreed to it.
“The Pixel cannot be placed on a website without steps taken directly by defendant or on behalf of defendant (e.g. by a website manager). The Pixel cannot be placed on the website by Facebook without the knowledge and cooperation of the defendant,” the lawsuit says.
The suit hasn’t received a class action certification yet, but the plaintiffs are seeking trial and financial compensation. They also want Ubisoft to remove Pixel from its website and ask for consent from the users if they want to share their data.