Fandom Inc., which owns the gaming news site GameSpot, faced a proposed class action after California visitors alleged the site placed advertising/analytics “trackers” in their browsers that captured identifiers such as IP addresses. The lawsuit targets three tools named in the complaint—GumGum, Audiencerate, and TripleLift—arguing that this kind of behind-the-scenes data collection can effectively “listen in” on a user’s browsing activity and link it to a device or household without the user ever knowingly agreeing. The proposed settlement covers California residents who visited GameSpot.com (or its subdomains) between Jan. 5, 2023, and Dec. 16, 2025, and whose IP addresses were allegedly collected, with a $1.2 million fund to be distributed to approved claimants (amounts depend on how many people file). The case, *Shah v. Fandom Inc.* in the Northern District of California, was filed under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a decades-old wiretapping/communications privacy statute that plaintiffs increasingly invoke against modern web tracking technologies—especially when tracking occurs without clear, affirmative consent. Fandom denies wrongdoing but agreed to settle, a common move in privacy class actions where the cost and uncertainty of litigation can outweigh the benefits of fighting, even when liability is disputed. Its significance is that it reflects how plaintiffs are using older privacy laws to challenge routine ad-tech practices, pushing publishers to tighten consent flows, limit third-party scripts, and more carefully assess whether tools that collect IP addresses and related signals qualify as “interception” under CIPA. More broadly, this settlement fits into a growing wave of CIPA-based lawsuits against websites using session replay, pixels, chat widgets, and third-party ad exchanges, alongside regulatory pressure from California’s broader privacy framework (CCPA/CPRA) that emphasizes transparency, limits on sharing, and consumer control over certain data uses. While CIPA is separate from CCPA/CPRA, the industry context is the same: websites rely heavily on third-party trackers to monetize content, but courts and regulators are increasingly skeptical of opaque data flows—especially when users aren’t clearly told what data is collected, by whom, and for what purposes—making consent management and vendor governance central compliance issues for digital publishers and ad-tech partners.