Facebook Tracks Users’ Health-Related Data, Class Action Says

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

On Tuesday, Facebook Inc. and a group of health care websites were hit with a class action lawsuit accusing the social network of violating users’ privacy by tracking their health-related Internet communications.

Plaintiff Winston Smith of Missouri, along with two anonymous plaintiffs, filed the 92-page class action lawsuit, alleging Facebook tracked their sensitive personal and health information through its website and medical websites like Cancer.org, Melanoma.org and ClevelandClinic.org to use for direct marketing purposes.

According to the Facebook health data class action lawsuit, Facebook fails to disclose to its users that it tracks, intercepts and acquires user communications with medical websites in violation of those websites’ privacy policies and in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other medical privacy laws.

Other defendants named in the health data privacy class action lawsuit include American Cancer Society Inc., American Society of Clinical Oncology Inc., Melanoma Research Foundation, Adventist Health System, BJC Healthcare, Cleveland Clinic and University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Facebook allegedly uses the data it obtains from tracking users’ Internet communications to sell advertising. According to the health privacy class action lawsuit, “Facebook’s application for advertisers touts its ability to target users based on information Facebook has collected about them relating to health care.”

The plaintiffs claim that Facebook doesn’t inform web developers that including a “Like” or “Share” button on a website causes the site to send personally identifiable information about the communications between Facebook users and the website. They state that they do not know whether the medical defendants were aware that Facebook tracks and intercepts communications with users, or if the medical defendants profit directly or indirectly as a result of Facebook’s data tracking practices.

According to the health data privacy class action lawsuit, Smith visited several health websites to look up information related to melanoma and cancer treatment. He says that the content of his communications was disclosed to Facebook with a referrer heading that contained the exact contents of the search queries he made on the websites.

Smith states that his information was shared with Facebook even though the health websites did not contain “Like” buttons. He also claims that the health websites do not disclose any relationship with Facebook, and that he trusted that they would not share his Internet search and browsing activity with any third parties without his consent. However, the health data privacy class action lawsuit alleges Facebook uses cookies and web-crawlers to scan pages for communications, even if the site doesn’t contain “Like” or “Share” buttons.

The Facebook health data privacy class action lawsuit asserts charges against the defendants for violations of the Wiretap Act, California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, California’s Constitutional Invasion of Privacy, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty of confidentiality, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, and other charges.

The plaintiffs are represented by Paul R. Kiesel, Jeffrey A. Koncius and Nicole Ramirez of Kiesel Law LLP; Stephen M. Gorny and Chis Dandurand of The Gorny Law Firm LC; and Jay Barnes and Rod Chapel of Barnes & Associates.

The Facebook Health Data Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Smith, et al. v. Facebook Inc., et al., Case No. 5:16-cv-01282, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Aug. 1, 2016, a proposed Class of Facebook users fought back against the social media giant’s bid to dismiss a class action lawsuit, stating that by capturing and selling the details of users browsing third party health sites, they suffered real economic harm.

UPDATE 2: On May 9, 2017, a federal judge put an end to a privacy rights class action lawsuit against Facebook and the healthcare institutions behind several informational websites. The judge found that by accepting the Facebook user agreement, the plaintiffs consented to the very data collection that they claimed was unlawful.