Lieff Cabraser is investigating disturbing reports that Meta/Facebook’s advertising “pixel” (a tracking code included on websites that use and connect to Facebook) has been improperly and illegally sending patient health data to Facebook, including user IP (internet) addresses, even within password-protected systems and patient portals. The data, alleged to have been passed to Facebook in violation of multiple U.S. patient privacy laws, are said to include details on appointment scheduling and user-identifying info as well as information on allergic reactions to medications, information on prescriptions and prescription drug use, and dosages.

According to reports, one-third of Newsweek’s “top 100 hospitals in America” have been sending patient appointment info to Facebook/Meta via the tracking pixel, and many healthcare providers have set the tracking pixel within otherwise password-protected patient portals, giving Facebook access to detailed information on conditions, prescriptions, dosages, and other sensitive information that can be linked to user-specific IP addresses and Facebook accounts, all in violation of applicable privacy laws as well as HIPAA’s privacy restrictions on U.S. medical data.

Statutes of limitation can severely restrict your right to file suit or otherwise recover for violations of consumer and privacy protecting laws. If you are concerned that your hospital or patient portal has been transmitting your private, detailed, personal medical information to Meta and Facebook, we urge you to contact a privacy lawyer at Lieff Cabraser today about your case and potential recovery.

Lieff Cabraser has 120 lawyers in four offices across the U.S. and in Europe, and is one of the most favorably recognized and highly-awarded plaintiffs’ firms practicing in the U.S. today. Our work on behalf of clients in consumer protection, civil rights, privacy and cybersecurity cases has won settlements and judgments for our clients of over $22 billion, and has resulted in precedents and decisions expanding and extending privacy laws and bringing fundamental policy and practice changes to corporations across the world.