Court Rules LinkedIn Must Face VPPA Case Over Video Training Platform
A federal court ruled Monday that LinkedIn must face a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) case accusing it of deploying tracking pixels to transmit personally identifiable information (PII) of users to third parties without their knowledge and consent.
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The U.S. District Court for Northern California found that LinkedIn is considered a videotape service provider for the purposes of this case, as the complaint directly deals with the platform’s training videos.
In case 5:25-cv-01097, plaintiff Courtney Cole said she was a subscriber to LinkedIn Learning, where she watched video courses related to employment. She alleged that LinkedIn transmitted the titles and descriptions of these videos to Facebook using a tracking pixel.
LinkedIn had asked the district to dismiss the case, arguing it was not a videotape service provider under the VPPA.
“Cole’s only allegations about the nature of LinkedIn’s services concern LinkedIn Learning," said Judge Casey Pitts. “The complaint contains no discussion of LinkedIn’s services other than the video content on LinkedIn Learning.”
“The complaint thus casts LinkedIn Learning as substantially -- indeed, exclusively -- involved in conveying audiovisual content and as ‘significantly tailored’ to that purpose,” he added.
Additionally, the judge noted that a company need not have video production as it’s “overarching focus” to be considered a videotape service provider. Pitts added that Cole is a consumer under the statute as well, since she's a subscriber to LinkedIn Learning.