Meta says its pixel-tracking tools don't violate healthcare privacy laws and that healthcare providers control what information is shared with the technology, Bloomberg Law reported May 9.
On May 8, Meta filed a motion to dismiss lawsuits that allege the company gains access to highly sensitive protected health information when people schedule appointments on hospital websites.
IP addresses, physicians' names and search terms used to find the physician are often the types of information collected, according to multiple lawsuits filed against the company and health systems.
The technology, found to be installed at 33 top hospital websites, allegedly sends patients' data to Facebook in exchange for analytics about the ads that the health system places on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta says it educates its users on how to properly set up business tools to prevent sensitive data from being collected and that its tools are designed to filter out that information if detected.
Currently, 18 hospitals and health systems around the country are facing lawsuits accusing them of sharing confidential patient information with Meta through the pixel tracker.
A recent Health Affairs study also found that 98 percent of U.S. hospital websites are sending patient data to third-party companies such as Alphabet, Meta and Adobe through pixel-tracking technology.