Medical information (also known as protected health information, or PHI) is supposed to be kept private, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as other laws. The complaint for this class action brings suit against Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook, Inc.) and Novant Health, Inc., alleging that Novant made an advertising agreement with Meta that involved sharing patient information with Meta, including the patients’ personally identifiable information (PII) and PHI, and passed the information on to others.
The class for this action is all citizens of North Carolina who were patients of Novant Health since August 2015 and whose PII and PHI were disclosed by Novant and Meta to unauthorized third parties.
Meta is now one of the largest advertising companies in the US, with revenues of nearly $115 billion. One of Meta’s advertising tools is the Meta Pixel.
Businesses like Novant can install the Meta Pixel on its website as an invisible bit of code that tracks the activities of website users as they visit the website, the complaint alleges, tracking the pages they visit, the buttons they click, the moves they make, and the information they enter. The Meta Pixel then sends the information to Meta along with information on the user, such as IP address and name, the complaint claims, and Meta stores the information in its systems.
Why do businesses allow Meta to do this? The complaint alleges that they “benefit from the ability to analyze a user’s experience and activity on its website to assess the website’s functionality and traffic” and to get information about customers. The information harvested by the Meta Pixel can also be used to target them with advertisements and then judge the results of the advertising.
But the complaint alleges that the use of the Meta Pixel is, in actuality, “far more sinister. When Meta Pixel is incorporated,” the complaint alleges, “unbeknownst to users and without their consent, Meta gains the ability to gather surreptitiously every user interaction with the website ranging from what a user clicks on to the personal information entered on a website.” And it doesn’t end there, the complaint claims: “Meta aggregates this data against all websites.”
The complaint alleges this information may permit, for example, “pharmaceutical and other companies to send targeted advertising related to [patients’] medical conditions.”
According to the complaint, this disclosing of information went on for two years, until, in August 2021, Novant sent a letter to patients informing them of a data security incident involving the Meta Pixel. The complaint further claims, “In June 2022, upon investigation, Novant determined that PHI may have been disclosed to Meta.” “Upon information and belief,” the complaint suggests, “Novant gave Meta full and complete access to its patient database containing PHI and PII.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Privacy
Most Recent Case Event
Novant Sharing of Health Information with Meta Pixel Complaint
November 10, 2022
Medical information (also known as protected health information, or PHI) is supposed to be kept private, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as other laws. The complaint for this class action brings suit against Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook, Inc.) and Novant Health, Inc., alleging that Novant made an advertising agreement with Meta that involved sharing patient information with Meta, including the patients’ personally identifiable information (PII) and PHI, and passed the information on to others.
Novant Sharing of Health Information with Meta Pixel ComplaintCase Event History
Novant Sharing of Health Information with Meta Pixel Complaint
November 10, 2022
Medical information (also known as protected health information, or PHI) is supposed to be kept private, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as other laws. The complaint for this class action brings suit against Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook, Inc.) and Novant Health, Inc., alleging that Novant made an advertising agreement with Meta that involved sharing patient information with Meta, including the patients’ personally identifiable information (PII) and PHI, and passed the information on to others.
Novant Sharing of Health Information with Meta Pixel Complaint