Patients Advance Meta Lawsuit Over Collecting Health Information

Meta Platforms Inc. must face a proposed class action alleging it collected the personal health information of patients without their consent in violation of state and federal privacy laws and against its own privacy policies, a federal court ruled.

Five anonymous plaintiffs allege in the consolidated lawsuit that Meta intercepted the health information of people with Facebook accounts by installing the Meta “pixel” on the patient portals of their health-care providers. Meta profited from the intercepted information by using it to deliver targeted ads, they said.

Judge William H. Orrick of the US District Court for the Northern District of ...