Sling TV will pay $530,000 to settle a lawsuit from California accusing it of failing to provide an easy-to-use mechanism for consumers to stop the sale of their personal information and provide sufficient privacy protections for children.
Under the deal, the Dish-owned company will streamline the opt-out process and provide parents with clear disclosures and tools to minimize the collection and use of their children’s data.
The settlement comes amid a sweeping probe of streaming platforms suspected of violating the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which mandates an easy way for consumers to stop the sale of their data. The law also gives users the right to know how businesses collect, share and disclose their personal information. Further agreements or lawsuits are expected to follow.
“We are pleased to reach a resolution with the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and have implemented privacy enhancements to address the DOJ’s concerns,” said a Sling TV spokesperson in a statement. “While we disagree with certain characterizations, Sling remains committed to respecting the privacy rights of its customers.”
Sling TV was identified as a target in 2024 because of its confusing process of turning off the sale of personal information. In the lawsuit, filed in California state court on the same day the settlement was announced, the company was accused of deceptively directing consumers seeking to opt out of the sale of their data to its cookie preference controls, even though cookies aren’t the only way the company shares personal information.
“Consumers who figured out that turning off cookies would not stop all selling and sharing of their information had to click through hard-to-find links and fill out a webform to actually opt out,” the complaint states.
Also at issue: Sling TV neglecting to provide an opt-out method within its apps. Instead, users were required to enter a lengthy URL in a separate browser, where they’d have to navigate several additional steps.
Under the CCPA, businesses that sell or share personal information for targeted advertising must give consumers a simple mechanism for opting out. Users who are using a SmartTV, for example, should be able to navigate to the settings menu on a streaming platform’s app and enable the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” setting.
Unlike other streaming services, Sling TV didn’t offer parents the ability to set a kid’s profile that would limit targeted advertising when children are watching, age-screen users, or obtain parental consent to collect children’s data.
The settlement requires the company to designate at least one user profile for kids that, as a default, doesn’t collect personal information.
“Our investigative sweep looked at all the different ways consumers should be able to stop the sale of their data when using streaming services,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta in a statement. “We take privacy rights seriously and Sling TV was not providing consumers an easy way to opt out of the sale of their personal data as required.”
