Ubisoft sued for secretly sharing data with Meta

Ubisoft has been having a rough year, from botched launches to high-profile delays and game cancellations causing share prices to plummet. Unfortunately, the hits won’t stop coming as now, Ubisoft is facing a major lawsuit for illegally sharing user data.

As spotted by Bloomberg, Ubisoft is now facing a lawsuit for sharing personally identifiable information with Meta, the parent company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and others. The fact that personal information is being shared to Meta platforms is not disclosed to customers, and could be in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act. This US law was intended to stop video rental stores from being able to tie an individual’s identity to a purchase history, but its wording may allow it to apply to the videogame space as well.

Back in 2013, this law was amended to allow digital platforms like Netflix to share personally identifying information with others, but only after requesting user permission. Ubisoft appears to have skipped that crucial step.

The lawsuit is seeking compensation for all customers affected, as well as a court order instructing Ubisoft to remove Meta’s tracking tool, known as ‘Pixel’, or to comply with the Video Privacy Protection Act by warning customers and asking permission.

KitGuru Says: This is the first time many will be finding out that their Ubisoft data has been shared with the likes of Facebook. With that said, it isn't much of a surprise nowadays, as the bulk of Meta's operation is data farming. Still, if Ubisoft failed to request permission or appropriately give users a heads-up about data collection and sharing, then this could become an expensive oversight. 

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