Buckle up boys, it’s time to once again talk about every anime watcher’s favorite website: Crunchyroll.com. That’s right, the hero of the industry is back and this time under fire for (either willingly or reluctantly) allowing their parent company Sony to distribute personally identifiable information related to their users to Facebook and other third-party companies without informing consumers. This is a cute little legal infringement known as a privacy violation and Crunchyroll has decided to settle rather than continue the battle in court, though they deny any wrongdoing. What exactly does this settlement mean?
Supposedly it means anyone, registered user or a passing visitor, who used the Crunchyroll website or app in the timeframe of Sept. 8, 2020, and Sept. 23, 2023 are entitled to a little compensation. I’m no lawyer but I think you probably have a higher chance of success if you’re a registered user. What kind of success do I mean? Why the success of claiming your (approximately) $30 from them my friends! That’s the estimated amount that the legal team expects claimants to receive anyway. It may fluctuate depending on the number of claims received during the case. Speaking of which, if you want to try and milk Crunchy for some clams, here is a link to the claim form. You’ll need to submit your form before the deadline on December 12. Personally I don’t plan on spending the time to fill it out for such a low payout with no guarantee that it won’t be even less when it’s time for payday, but I salute those who do. I enjoy seeing suits like these where companies are held responsible for what they do with our data, especially in this day and age, but when the settlement leads to such a low amount of money for each person, it’s hard for many to justify spending the time on the form paperwork in the first place.
Wait man I don't think that's the line!
Either way, it’s a good day to see some karma inflicted on the company behind a ton of scandals and controversies in the anime industry. It certainly doesn’t hurt my heart to watch them cough up some dough, no matter how small. Are you an affected user in this case? Do you think Crunchy and Sony will learn anything from this? Was justice served? Put on your suit, lawyer up, and object your way to victory in the comments below!
