Crunchyroll Lawsuit 2026: What Subscribers Need to Know

Crunchyroll, the anime streaming giant owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, is facing multiple real lawsuits in 2026. One centers on a March 2026 data breach that exposed information tied to 6.8 million users; a separate case accuses the company of secretly sharing subscribers’ viewing habits with a third-party marketing firm.

This isn’t Crunchyroll’s first time in court over privacy claims — the company already paid $16 million to settle a related lawsuit in 2024. With millions of active subscribers and a growing pile of BBB complaints about billing practices, the stakes for anime fans go well beyond a single case.

If you’re tracking privacy litigation against streaming platforms broadly, our coverage of the Venmo class action landscape shows a similar pattern of real, evolving cases.

One fact worth knowing: the March 2026 data breach reportedly gave a hacker roughly 24 hours of access to Crunchyroll’s support-ticket system, long enough to pull 8 million records containing 6.8 million unique email addresses.

Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Defendant	Crunchyroll, LLC (owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.)
Closed Case	Beltran et al. v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. d/b/a Crunchyroll, No. 1:22-cv-04858 (N.D. Ill.) — $16 million settlement, closed
Active Case 1	Cabonios et al. v. Crunchyroll, LLC, No. 2:26-cv-02373 (C.D. Cal.) — filed March 5, 2026, VPPA/third-party data sharing
Active Case 2	Agress v. Crunchyroll, LLC, No. 3:26-cv-02553 (N.D. Cal.) — filed March 24, 2026, data breach
Core Allegations	Unauthorized disclosure of viewing data to third parties; failure to secure user PII in a 2026 data breach
Current Status	One case closed and paid out; two cases in early litigation with no settlement yet

What Is the Crunchyroll Lawsuit About?

There isn’t just one “Crunchyroll lawsuit” — there are three distinct legal matters worth separating clearly. The first, already resolved, accused Crunchyroll of illegally sharing subscribers’ video-viewing history with third parties in violation of federal privacy law, and it ended in a $16 million settlement.

Two new cases followed in March 2026. One alleges Crunchyroll continued essentially the same type of privacy violation — sharing viewing data with a different third party, Braze Inc. — after the earlier settlement. The other, unrelated to viewing-data sharing, involves a March 2026 cybersecurity breach that exposed personal information belonging to millions of users.

Key Takeaway: If you’re searching “Crunchyroll lawsuit” in 2026, you’re likely looking for one of two brand-new, still-pending cases — not the 2024 settlement, which is closed and already paid out.

Class Action Lawsuit / Legal Status Overview

Case	Filed	Court	Status
Beltran v. Sony Pictures Entertainment (Crunchyroll)	2022	N.D. Illinois	Closed — $16M settlement, final approval Jan. 17, 2024
Cabonios v. Crunchyroll, LLC	March 5, 2026	C.D. California	Active — early litigation, no motion to dismiss ruling reported yet
Agress v. Crunchyroll, LLC	March 24, 2026	N.D. California	Active — early litigation, no settlement

Key Takeaway: Crunchyroll has one paid-out settlement behind it and two fresh, unresolved lawsuits in front of it — treat any claim of a new “Crunchyroll settlement” in mid-2026 with caution unless it cites one of these two active case numbers.

Latest Update 2026

• March 5, 2026: Plaintiff Francisco Cabonios files a proposed class action in the Central District of California, alleging Crunchyroll embedded a software development kit (SDK) from Braze Inc. in its app and configured it to transmit user email addresses, device IDs, and specific video titles watched — without adequate consent, in alleged violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
• March 12, 2026: A hacker reportedly gains access to Crunchyroll’s corporate environment through a security lapse tied to outsourcing partner Telus, maintaining access for roughly 24 hours and downloading approximately 8 million support-ticket records from Crunchyroll’s Zendesk system.
• March 22, 2026: Crunchyroll discloses the breach publicly, ten days after it reportedly occurred.
• March 24, 2026: Plaintiff Max Agress files a proposed class action in the Northern District of California over the breach, alleging negligence and violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act and California’s Consumer Records Act.

Key Takeaway: Both 2026 cases are still in early litigation as of this writing — neither has reached a settlement, and no trial date has been reported.

Key Allegations Explained

The two active cases involve different alleged misconduct:

• Cabonios v. Crunchyroll (data sharing): The complaint alleges Crunchyroll knowingly disclosed personally identifiable video-viewing information to Braze Inc., a marketing and analytics company, without the consent VPPA requires — specifically email addresses, persistent device identifiers, and titles of videos watched.
• Agress v. Crunchyroll (data breach): The complaint alleges Crunchyroll failed to implement reasonable data-security safeguards, allowing an intruder to access its Zendesk support-ticket environment and extract records containing full names, usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, approximate location data, and the text of customer support conversations. The suit states full payment card numbers were not exposed, though partial card details voluntarily shared in support tickets — such as last-four digits or expiration dates — may have been compromised.

Key Takeaway: One case is about what Crunchyroll allegedly did with your data (shared it); the other is about what Crunchyroll allegedly failed to prevent (a breach of it).

Is Crunchyroll Actually Sharing Your Viewing Data? (Myth-Check)

It’s a fair question given the company already settled a similar claim in 2024. Two things are true at once here:

• The 2024 settlement resolved claims tied to data-sharing practices alleged to have occurred between September 2020 and September 2023 — a specific, now-closed time window.
• The new Cabonios complaint alleges a similar type of practice involving a different third party (Braze Inc.) and does not claim to cover that earlier, already-settled period.

Key Takeaway: These aren’t the same allegations recycled — they’re a new complaint about newer conduct and a different vendor relationship, according to the filing. Whether the claims hold up is still being litigated.

Company Background: How the Issue Started

Crunchyroll operates as a subsidiary under Sony Pictures Entertainment, following Sony’s consolidation of Crunchyroll and its former rival Funimation in 2022. The platform streams anime to a large global subscriber base and, like many ad-supported and subscription streaming services, relies on third-party analytics and marketing tools to track engagement and personalize offers.

The Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), the federal law central to both the 2024 settlement and the new Cabonios case, was originally passed in 1988 after a newspaper published a video rental history during a Supreme Court nomination. It has become a frequent basis for privacy suits against streaming platforms because it allows statutory damages — reportedly up to $2,500 per violation — without requiring proof of actual financial harm.

Consumer Complaints and BBB Records

Crunchyroll has accumulated a substantial complaint record independent of the pending lawsuits:

• The company has logged over 400 complaints with the Better Business Bureau in the past three years, according to BBB records.
• Trustpilot shows an average rating around 1.4 stars across roughly 2,800 reviews.
• Common complaint themes include unauthorized or duplicate charges, difficulty cancelling subscriptions, and unresponsive customer service — separate from the privacy and breach allegations in the active lawsuits.

Key Takeaway: The lawsuits target specific legal violations, but they sit alongside a broader pattern of consumer billing and service complaints that isn’t itself the subject of current litigation.

Who Qualifies for the Closed 2024 Settlement (Historical Reference)

The Beltran settlement is closed to new claims, but understanding its eligibility criteria helps clarify who was covered:

• Anyone in the United States who was a registered user of a Crunchyroll website, app, or video-on-demand platform and viewed videos on those platforms between September 8, 2020, and September 20, 2023, was eligible.
• The claim deadline was December 12, 2023, and no new claims are being accepted.
• Final court approval was granted January 17, 2024, and payments began distributing April 27, 2024.

Key Takeaway: If you qualified for the 2024 settlement and didn’t file by the December 2023 deadline, that specific opportunity has passed — but it has no bearing on whether you might be part of either new 2026 case.

What the Closed Settlement Actually Paid

Settlement Detail	Amount
Total Settlement Fund	$16 million
Estimated Per-Person Payout	Approximately $30, with some reports up to $31.24
Claim Deadline	December 12, 2023 (passed)
Final Court Approval	January 17, 2024
Payments Distributed	Beginning April 27, 2024

Key Takeaway: Even a $16 million settlement translated to roughly $30 per claimant once divided among the class — a useful benchmark for evaluating any inflated payout figures circulating about the newer, unresolved cases.

Is There Currently a Way to File a Claim?

Not yet, for either active case. Both Cabonios v. Crunchyroll and Agress v. Crunchyroll remain in early litigation with no certified class, no settlement, and no claims administrator or claim form established as of this writing. VPPA and data-breach class actions of this scale typically take one to three years to resolve, meaning any claims process is unlikely to open in the near term.

Key Takeaway: If a website tells you that you can “sign up now” for a Crunchyroll data breach or privacy settlement today, verify the case number against a real court docket before providing any personal information — no legitimate settlement fund currently exists for either 2026 case.

Filing Deadline / Statute of Limitations

No filing deadline currently applies to consumers for either active case, because no settlement has been reached and no claims window has opened. Separately, individuals affected by the March 2026 data breach or the alleged Braze data-sharing practice may still have personal legal options — such as consulting an attorney about an individual claim — subject to applicable state and federal statutes of limitations, which vary by claim type and jurisdiction.

Other Related Lawsuits and Broader Context

• The VPPA has driven a wave of similar suits against other streaming and media platforms in recent years, following the same basic theory used against Crunchyroll: that sharing viewing history with ad-tech or analytics vendors without proper consent violates the statute.
• Data-breach class actions like Agress v. Crunchyroll have become increasingly common industry-wide as companies rely on third-party vendors (in this case, reportedly Telus) for customer support infrastructure, raising recurring questions about vendor security obligations.
• If the two 2026 cases follow a similar path to the 2024 settlement, a resolution — if any — is more likely in 2027 or later based on typical case timelines, though no such outcome is guaranteed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Crunchyroll lawsuit about?

As of 2026, there are two active lawsuits against Crunchyroll: one alleging the company shared subscribers’ viewing data with a third-party marketing firm (Cabonios v. Crunchyroll, No. 2:26-cv-02373) and another over a March 2026 data breach that exposed information linked to 6.8 million users (Agress v. Crunchyroll, No. 3:26-cv-02553). A separate, earlier privacy lawsuit against Crunchyroll already settled for $16 million in 2024 and is closed.

Who qualifies for the current Crunchyroll lawsuits?

Because neither 2026 case has reached a settlement or class certification, there is no confirmed eligibility criteria yet for either. Based on the complaints filed, the data-sharing case would likely cover Crunchyroll users whose viewing data was allegedly shared with Braze Inc., while the breach case would likely cover users whose information was included in the compromised Zendesk support-ticket records — but these groups are estimated from the filings, not yet legally defined.

How much money could the Crunchyroll lawsuit pay out?

No payout figures have been established for either active 2026 case, since neither has reached a settlement. For context, Crunchyroll’s previous, unrelated 2024 settlement totaled $16 million and paid eligible claimants approximately $30 each. Any specific dollar amount cited for the 2026 cases at this stage should be treated as speculative.

What was exposed in the Crunchyroll data breach?

According to the complaint in Agress v. Crunchyroll, the March 2026 breach exposed full names, usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, approximate location data, and the text of customer support exchanges for roughly 6.8 million unique email addresses. Full payment card numbers were reportedly not exposed, though partial card details voluntarily included in support tickets, such as last-four digits, may have been compromised.

What is the current status of the Crunchyroll lawsuit in 2026?

As of this writing, both the Cabonios data-sharing case and the Agress data-breach case remain in early-stage litigation in federal court, with no settlements, no certified classes, and no trial dates reported. The earlier, unrelated Beltran privacy settlement is fully closed, with claims and payments already completed in 2024.

What Crunchyroll Subscribers Should Do Next

The honest bottom line: if you’re a Crunchyroll subscriber wondering whether you can claim money right now, the answer for both active 2026 cases is not yet, because neither has reached a settlement.

If you were a Crunchyroll user in the 2020–2023 window covered by the earlier settlement and missed the December 2023 claim deadline, that specific payout window has closed permanently. It doesn’t affect your standing in either of the newer cases.

If your information may have been part of the March 2026 breach, treat that as a live security concern independent of the lawsuit’s outcome: monitor your accounts for phishing attempts referencing your real Crunchyroll support history, since exposed support-ticket text can make scam messages look more convincing.

Keep records now so you’re prepared if either case reaches a settlement later — you won’t need to scramble to reconstruct your subscription history months or years from now.

Sources

• [Crunchyroll class action alleges data breach exposed PII of 6.8M users — Top Class Actions](https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/crunchyroll-class-action-alleges-data-breach-exposed-pii-of-6-8m-users/)
• [Crunchyroll accused of sharing users’ video viewing data without consent — Top Class Actions](https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/crunchyroll-accused-of-sharing-users-video-viewing-data-without-consent/)
• [Crunchyroll Failed to Prevent March 2026 Data Breach, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges — ClassAction.org](https://www.classaction.org/news/crunchyroll-failed-to-prevent-march-2026-data-breach-class-action-lawsuit-alleges)
• [Crunchyroll Discloses Viewer Data, Preferences to Third-Party Marketing Company, Class Action Lawsuit Claims — ClassAction.org](https://www.classaction.org/news/crunchyroll-discloses-viewer-data-preferences-to-third-party-marketing-company-class-action-lawsuit-claims)
• [Class Action Lawsuit Against Crunchyroll Alleges Disclosure of User Information to 3rd-Party Analytics Company Braze — Anime News Network](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-03-10/class-action-lawsuit-against-crunchyroll-alleges-disclosure-of-user-information-to-3rd-party-/.235088)
• [Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures video privacy $16M class action settlement — Top Class Actions](https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/crunchyroll-sony-pictures-video-privacy-16m-class-action-settlement/)
• [Cabonios et al. v. Crunchyroll, LLC docket — Justia](https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/2:2026cv02373/1009570)
• [Crunchyroll.com BBB Business Profile — Better Business Bureau](https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-francisco/profile/internet-service/crunchyrollcom-1116-361900)