Hulu faces trial over sharing users’ video history with Facebook

Streaming video service Hulu’s decision to use Facebook’s “Like” button on its webpages may have violated a federal law that forbids companies from sharing customers’ video histories, according to a San Francisco court decision that could spell trouble for other companies.

In a 27-page ruling full of technological details, US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler refused to dismiss a class action complaint that accuses Hulu of violating a 1982 law known as the Video Privacy Protection Act, or VPPA.

While the original purpose of the law was to prevent video stores from sharing their customers’ rental histories, it continues to trip up online media companies like Netflix, which paid $9 million in 2012 to settle a VPPA-related lawsuit.

Even though a recent update to the VPPA permits video companies to tell Facebook and other third parties what their customers are watching, Judge Beeler concluded that Hulu did not obtain the required consent. Hulu did not send lists of its subscribers’ viewing habits to Facebook. Instead, the company is in legal trouble because it shared customers’ movie choices indirectly as a result of the “Like” button.