A putative class-action lawsuit against Meta over its pixel-tracking tools placed on health systems' patient portals will likely proceed in court, GovInfoSecurity reported Jan. 17.
Judge William Orrick said he intends to allow the lawsuit against Meta to move forward. The suit alleges Meta obtained patients' protected health information through a web activity tracking tool, Meta Pixel, on medical center patient portals, and in doing so violated the plaintiffs' privacy.
Meta sought dismissal of the amended complaint, arguing it lacked specific examples of transmitted patient information, contending the information was publicly accessible. Mr. Orrick signaled potential dismissal of claims under a California statute but suggested retaining other privacy claims. The judge aims to issue an order soon.
This comes at a time when several hospitals and health systems are facing lawsuits for allegedly using Meta's pixel tracking tools on their websites and patient portals that transmitted patient information to the tech giant.