Judge allows CNN lawsuit potentially worth billions to continue

• A federal judge allowed a class action lawsuit against CNN to resume. The lawsuit alleges the network used tracking services on its website without visitors’ consent. The move would be a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act.
• The plaintiff is seeking $5,000 per offense plus other fees. Given CNN’s high number of unique visitors, a decision against the network could result in billions of dollars in damages.
• Similar lawsuits have been filed under CIPA, including against the parent company of LexisNexis and Wilson Sporting Goods, highlighting ongoing privacy concerns and legal challenges.

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A federal judge on Thursday, Feb. 20, allowed a class action lawsuit against news network CNN to resume. If a judge rules the network broke a California law, the damages could be worth billions of dollars.

Originally filed in March 2024 by California resident Carol Lesh in Alameda County, the suit alleges CNN used multiple tracking services in its website without asking for visitors’ consent. The suit alleges that this runs afoul of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). 

The suit was moved to federal court, and a judge for the Southern District of New York allowed the case to move forward on Thursday, according to Bloomberg Law. 

The plaintiff is asking for relief of $5,000 per offense plus other fees. CNN says its site routinely registers more than 150 million unique visitors globally each month. If even a fraction of those viewers visited the site from a location in California, a decision against the news network could amount to billions of dollars. 

Attorneys in the suit consider the “pen registers” –– PubMatic, Magnite and Aniview –– embedded in the website to be “trap and trace” devices, which are illegal under the California law without prior consent. The devices track information like an IP address, which denotes a physical location. 

CNN isn’t alone in facing lawsuits under the California law, which has been in effect since 1967 to safeguard residents against wiretapping. The parent company of LexisNexis was sued in August 2024 over alleged violations of CIPA. Wilson Sporting Goods faced a similar lawsuit in January 2024. 

CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Straight Arrow News.