Subscribers to the popular anime streaming service, Crunchyroll, may be entitled to payment. A recent class action lawsuit against the service was settled in court. In said case, it was settled that subscribers who fit certain criteria can receive some form of payment. The lawsuit was settled in the United States District Court in Illinois.
The class action lawsuit that this originated from has accused Crunchyroll of disclosing subscriber’s information to unknown third parties. This action was done without the consent of the subscribers, and as the lawsuit began, Crunchyroll denied said allegations.
Despite denying the allegations, Crunchyroll agreed to a settlement and because of this, Crunchyroll subscribers who had paid for service between the dates September 8, 2020 and September 20, 2023 are possibly entitled to compensation.
“A Settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Crunchyroll, LLC (‘Crunchyroll’ or ‘Defendant’). The class action lawsuit accuses Crunchyroll of disclosing its subscribers’ personally identifiable information (“PII”) to third parties without consent in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (the ‘VPPA’). The VPPA defines PII to include information that identifies a specific Person as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services from a video tape service provider. Defendant denies that it violated any law but has agreed to the Settlement to avoid the uncertainties and expenses associated with continuing the case,” the class action settlement reads. “You are included if you are a Person in the United States who, from September 8, 2020 through September 20, 2023, (1) was a registered user of an online website, mobile app, or any video-on-demand service or app owned, controlled, and/or operated by Crunchyroll; and (2) viewed videos on an online website, mobile app, or any video-on-demand service or app owned, controlled, and/or operated by Crunchyroll.”
The settlement’s first deadline is November 27th. The claims must then be submitted no later than December 12th for those who are eligible for a payment. You can read the full settlement and more details regarding the case on the Kroll Settlement Administration’s website.