In Re Meta Pixel Healthcare Litigation

Background

This putative class action concerns plaintiffs’ allegations that Meta Platforms, Inc. improperly acquired confidential health information in violation of state and federal law and Meta’s own data-use policies. Plaintiffs allege that their healthcare providers installed Meta’s tracking tool, called the “Pixel,” on patient portals and other parts of their websites. They allege that the Pixel transmitted information to Meta when they logged into patient portals or otherwise used the providers’ websites.

Plaintiffs served document requests and interrogatories on Meta. The parties asked the court to resolve a dispute about the scope of discovery concerning healthcare providers’ use of Meta tracking tools and the meaning of “Web-Property.”

Parties’ Positions

Plaintiffs argued that “Web-Property” should include healthcare providers’ webpages and applications. Meta argued that the term should be limited to medical providers’ webpages containing a patient portal or similar features that transmit patient status. Meta also argued that some provider webpages could not involve protected health information as a matter of law and therefore should fall outside relevant discovery.

Meta relied in part on an earlier decision and on the court’s prior order denying plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs responded that neither decision determined whether information collected from non-portal webpages was protected health information, and that their allegations were not limited to patient portals or similar webpages.

Ruling

The court agreed with plaintiffs that neither the earlier decision nor the preliminary-injunction order resolved whether information collected through the Pixel or other tracking tools on non-portal webpages was protected health information. The court also found that plaintiffs’ allegations were not limited to portal-like webpages.

For purposes of plaintiffs’ discovery requests, the court defined “Web-Property” as a healthcare provider’s “point of presence on the web, including websites.” The definition does not include applications. The order was issued by United States Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi.

Disposition

The court resolved the discovery dispute by adopting this definition of “Web-Property.” The opinion does not state that the court decided the underlying claims about Meta’s alleged acquisition of health information.