Hulu, the ad-supported streaming service wholly owned by The Walt Disney Company since Disney's buyout of Comcast's 33% stake (announced November 2023), operates under Disney's unified privacy policy for The Walt Disney Family of Companies. That policy discloses collection of Hulu profile activity, viewing, device, and location data, and a Hulu-specific provision permitting sharing with content programmers, distributors, device partners, and corporate owners, plus consent-based sharing of viewing information. Disney's US state notice states identifiers, demographic, commercial, and internet-activity data were “sold” or “shared” or processed for “targeted advertising.” Hulu inventory is targeted via Disney's first-party Audience Graph and clean-room integrations, with Nielsen measurement on connected-TV devices. Hulu won the landmark VPPA case In re Hulu Privacy Litigation in 2015.
TRACK RECORD
1 ENFORCEMENT ACTION
[2025-12-31]
In December 2025, a federal court approved a $10 million FTC settlement with Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC — Hulu's corporate parent entities' affiliates, not the Hulu service itself — over allegations that mislabeling YouTube videos allowed collection of personal data from children under 13 and its use for targeted advertising.
Disney's US State Privacy Rights notice, which covers Hulu as part of The Walt Disney Family of Companies, discloses that sensitive personal information collected can include a child's personal information and precise geolocation, while committing that Disney does not sell or share those sensitive categories and limits their use to purposes permitted under the CCPA regulations.
As assessed by PrivacySpy on 2021-05-26 (see PrivacySpy's rubric entry for this product for the per-claim citation): Does the service collect personal data from third parties? — Yes.
The Walt Disney Company privacy policy (last modified 2025-09-30), which governs the Hulu service (hulu.com/privacy resolves to this policy), discloses collection of “Activity information” tied to Hulu account profiles — including the content viewed, frequency of use, and preferences — alongside usage, viewing, technical, and device data, and precise or approximate location information.
Disney publishes annual privacy-rights request metrics in its US State Privacy Rights notice — covering requests to know, delete, and correct received January 1 through December 31, 2025 — and separately publishes Hulu-specific Privacy Rights Metrics, linked from the same notice.
As assessed by PrivacySpy on 2021-05-26 (see PrivacySpy's rubric entry for this product for the per-claim citation): Does the policy outline the service's general security practices? — Somewhat.
Hulu's ownership is publicly documented: The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) announced on November 1, 2023 that it would acquire the 33% stake in Hulu, LLC held by Comcast/NBCUniversal, making Disney the sole owner of Hulu upon completion.
Disney's US State Privacy Rights notice discloses that, as defined by state privacy laws, Disney “sold” or “shared” or processed for “targeted advertising” data elements including identifiers, demographic information, commercial information, and internet activity information; its Do Not Sell counts are stated to be inclusive of all properties across The Walt Disney Family of Companies, including Hulu.
As assessed by PrivacySpy on 2021-05-26 (see PrivacySpy's rubric entry for this product for the per-claim citation): Does the policy allow personally-targeted or behavioral marketing? — Yes, but you may opt-out.
The Walt Disney Company privacy policy (last modified 2025-09-30) contains a Hulu-specific sharing provision: Hulu may share information with business partners that help offer the Hulu service — including content programmers, distributors, device partners, and corporate owners — and, with the user's consent, may also share viewing information together with certain personal information with these and other third parties.
Hulu was the defendant in In re Hulu Privacy Litigation (N.D. Cal.), a landmark Video Privacy Protection Act class action alleging Hulu disclosed users' video selections to Facebook via the embedded “Like” button; on March 31, 2015 the district court granted Hulu summary judgment, finding insufficient evidence that Hulu knowingly disclosed information identifying users as having watched specific videos.
In December 2025, a federal court approved a $10 million FTC settlement with Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC — Hulu's corporate parent entities' affiliates, not the Hulu service itself — over allegations that mislabeling YouTube videos allowed collection of personal data from children under 13 and its use for targeted advertising.
The Walt Disney Company Privacy Center, which covers Hulu as a member of The Walt Disney Family of Companies, discloses that Disney and service providers operating on its behalf monitor activity on users' devices across its sites and applications using cookies, Flash cookies, pixels, tags, software development kits, application program interfaces, and Web beacons.
A May 8, 2024 Disney Advertising press release announcing a partnership with Walmart Connect states that the collaboration enables enhanced audience targeting and outcome-based measurement for brand campaigns across Disney's streaming portfolio including Hulu, by syncing Walmart's omnichannel purchase data with Disney's proprietary Audience Graph via clean room technology for closed-loop attribution.
Disney's privacy policy documents that Hulu viewing on certain living-room (connected-TV) devices and mobile applications is measured through Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings, and provides a user-facing control to limit participation via the “Manage Nielsen Measurement” option on the Hulu Account Page.