TED VPPA Settlement: $5 Cash or 2 Free Months of TED Membership, Claim by October 26, 2026

The case is Sutton v. TED Foundation Inc., Case No. 1:23-cv-09219-DEH, before U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho in the Southern District of New York. The class representatives are Kimberly Sutton, David Ramirez, and Tyler Baker, and the court appointed Bursor & Fisher, P.A. as class counsel.

The lawsuit claims TED disclosed account holders' personally identifiable information, including which videos they watched, to third-party service providers without informed written consent. The Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 2710, lets a court award actual damages of not less than $2,500 in liquidated damages for each person whose viewing information was unlawfully disclosed. That statutory figure is why VPPA suits are filed so often against streaming and video sites. Our VPPA explainer covers how the law reaches websites and apps.

TED denies wrongdoing. According to the notice, TED says it never sends account holders' names or emails together with video views, that data sent to the third parties is encrypted and encoded, and that it uses the software only to run its site and apps, which it argues falls under the law's ordinary course of business exception. The court has not decided who is right; the parties settled to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continuing the case.

Beyond money, TED agreed to changes: it will give U.S. account holders whose event data goes to Open Web an affirmative consent option, stop sending U.S. account holders' names or emails to Mixpanel and use reasonable efforts to remove stored data there, and it confirmed it no longer uses Leanplum.

You are a class member if all three are true:

• You had a TED account (you were logged in or registered, not just an anonymous visitor).
• You were in the United States.
• You watched a pre-recorded video on TED.com or on TED's iOS or Android app between October 19, 2021 and July 14, 2026.

The class period runs almost five years, from October 19, 2021 through July 14, 2026. If you watched TED Talks only on YouTube, a podcast app, or without an account, you are probably not in this class, because the claims are about data tied to TED account holders on TED's own platforms.

Class members were sent notice by email with an 8-digit Claim ID and a 4-digit PIN. If you think you qualify but cannot find the email, contact the administrator at 1-888-312-3966.

You choose one of three options. You cannot combine them.

TED will pay no more than $350,000 in total cash, which covers 70,000 claims at the full $5; if more people choose cash, every check shrinks by the same proportion. The notice says you can ask class counsel how many claims have been filed.

Which is worth more depends on you. If you would use a TED Membership, the automatic benefit has twice the stated value of the cash. If you would not, $5 in your pocket beats a benefit you never activate. Cash is paid by check unless you choose PayPal or Venmo, and checks expire 180 days after they are issued, so cash them quickly.

Lawyers' fees do not come out of your $5. Class counsel may request up to $700,000 for administration costs, fees, and expenses, plus incentive awards of up to $2,500 for each of the three class representatives, all paid by TED separately. The court can award less.

1. Decide if you want cash. If you want the free membership, you do not need to file anything. Watch for an activation link after the settlement is final.
2. Find your notice email. It contains your 8-digit Claim ID and 4-digit PIN. Each Claim ID can be used once.
3. Go to the official site. File at TEDVPPASettlement.com, the website named in the court notice and run by the settlement administrator, Fidexis, LLC.
4. Choose cash or donation and pick a payment method: check, PayPal, or Venmo.
5. Submit by 11:59 p.m. on October 26, 2026. You can also print a paper claim form from the site's Documents page and mail it to TED Settlement Administrator, 1060 Broadway, Suite 310, Albany, NY 12204, postmarked by the deadline.

No receipts or screenshots are needed. For general tips, see how to file a class action settlement claim, and be wary of any site other than the official one asking for your details, as our guide on settlement scams explains.

As of September 2026, claims are open and no payments or membership links have been sent. The hearing is in Courtroom 905 of the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, New York. It can be moved without notice, so check the settlement site before relying on the date.

If you do nothing, you still get the membership benefit and you still give up your right to sue TED over these claims. To keep that right, you must opt out by mailing a signed letter with your name, address, the case name and number, and a statement that you want to be excluded, delivered by October 26, 2026. Opting out means no membership, no cash, and no donation option, but it preserves your own VPPA claim, which carries $2,500 in liquidated damages under the statute if you can prove it.

Objections go to the court and to both sides' lawyers, postmarked by October 26, 2026. You can only object if you stay in the class. Our guide on how to opt out or object covers the format.

Miss the claim deadline and you lose the cash option but keep the automatic membership benefit, as long as you activate it when the link arrives.

VPPA and tracking-pixel cases have produced several recent settlements. Compare this one with the TikTok privacy settlement and the Google Assistant privacy settlement, or browse all open settlements. To take the $5 cash, file on the official settlement website linked above by October 26, 2026.