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Meta Pixel class action overview:
- Who: A Pennsylvania woman filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook parent company Meta and the University Pittsburgh Medical Center.
- Why: The plaintiff alleges that Meta embedded a tracking tool on the University Pittsburgh Medical Center website and sent sensitive health and personal information to itself without patient consent.
- Where: The class action was filed in a Pennsylvania federal court.
Facebook illegally harvested people’s sensitive health data through a tracking tool embedded on the University Pittsburgh Medical Center appointment scheduling page, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Malinda S. Smidga filed the class action complaint against Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook) and the University Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Aug. 25 in a Pennsylvania federal court, alleging violations of state and federal privacy law.
According to the Meta class action, Meta relies on tracking tools like the Meta Pixel to earn advertising revenue, which makes up about 97% of its total revenue at more than $100 billion annually.
Meta Pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code embedded on a third-party website that tracks users’ actions as they navigate through the website, the lawsuit explains. Meta Pixel then sends this harvested information to Meta, where it can be stored for years.
Smidga alleges that recently the Meta Pixel tracking tool was found on UPMC’s appointment scheduling page, meaning that when a user enters sensitive health and personal information on the page, the Meta Pixel then sends some of that data to Meta, according to the Metal class action.
Meta class action alleges Meta Pixel harvests sensitive health information
Smidga says she had her sensitive health information harvested through the Meta Pixel without her knowledge or consent when she entered her information on UPMC’s appointment scheduling page.
“As a result of Meta’s illegal data harvesting, Plaintiff began to receive targeted advertisements that were specifically related to the medical information that she thought was secure on UPMC’s website,” the Meta class action states. “The targeted advertising Meta offers for sale includes the ability to target patients based on specific sensitive health information that a patient has provided on UPMC’s appointment scheduling page.”
Smidga looks to represent anyone in the United States whose personal information was collected through Meta Pixel, plus a Pennsylvania subclass.
She’s suing for breach of fiduciary duty, invasion of privacy and violations of state and federal wiretap acts and seeking certification of the class action lawsuit, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.
In related news, earlier this month, Meta Platforms Inc. agreed to pay $37.5 million to resolve claims it violated the privacy of Facebook users with its location tracking technology.
And in a multimillion dollar settlement this month, Facebook agreed to pay $90 million to resolve claims alleging unlawful user tracking on non-Facebook websites.
What do you think of these allegations against Meta regarding Meta Pixel? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Smidga is represented by Gary F. Lynch, Jamisen A. Etzel, Nicholas A. Colella and Patrick D. Donathen of Lynch Carpenter, LLP.
The Meta Platforms Meta Pixel class action lawsuit is Malinda S. Smidga v. Meta Platforms, Inc., Case No. 2:22-cv-01231-MPK, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
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13 thoughts onMeta class action alleges company uses Meta Pixel for large-scale data collection
My wife – Jennifer White – recently receive a notification letter from WakeMed, informing her that “her medical data was likely compromised via Pixel we want to participate in this Class Action suit, so please contact us. We can provide a copy of the WakeMed letter, along with a follow up email fro the facility. Thank you!
Why can’t we change our Privacy settings on our bio page.???
ADD ME. PLEASE AND THANK YOU.