Penn Medicine’s pixel settlement of up to $9.25M: five trackers, including TikTok, under a wiretap law (2026)
At a glance
- Brought by
- Private litigation (PA WESCA)
- Company
- Penn Medicine
- Sector
- Academic hospital system
- Law
- Pennsylvania wiretap law (WESCA)
- Amount
- Up to $9.25M (proposed)
- Date
- Preliminary approval 2026
- Status
- Preliminarily approved, final hearing Nov 2026
Summary
A private class action alleged that trackers on Penn Medicine‘s patient portal disclosed patients’ information to Meta, Google, LinkedIn, Snap and TikTok without permission, under Pennsylvania’s wiretap law. Penn agreed to a proposed settlement of up to $9.25 million and a two-year conditional limit on analytics and advertising technologies. It denies wrongdoing, and final approval is pending.
What happened
The case is Mohr v. The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, d/b/a Penn Medicine, in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The class is people who accessed the myPennMedicine patient portal with a Pennsylvania address on file between January 23, 2021 and January 23, 2023. The final approval hearing is set for November 12, 2026.
The mechanism
The amended complaint named five trackers: the Facebook (Meta) Tracking Pixel, Google Analytics, the LinkedIn Insight Tag, the TikTok Pixel, and the Snap Pixel. Patient information moving to five third parties at once is the multi-platform version of the problem. The claim ran under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (WESCA), a state wiretap statute now used against website tracking the way California’s CIPA is.
Why it was preventable
Five trackers is five chances to leak, and each fires independently. A coverage scan lists all of them and reads what each sends, so a site does not find out about the LinkedIn or TikTok tag from a complaint.
In the settlement’s words
The settlement describes the case as centering on “Defendant’s alleged disclosure of its patients’ personally identifiable information to Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, Inc. (‘Meta’), without permission in violation of the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act.”
Timeline
- Jan 23, 2021 to Jan 23, 2023class period.
- 2026preliminary approval.
- Nov 12, 2026final approval hearing.
Source
Settlement agreement, Mohr v. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County CCP, No. 230102149).
Questions
How much is the Penn Medicine settlement?
Up to $9.25 million, including up to $3.7 million in attorneys’ fees. It is preliminarily approved, with a final hearing on November 12, 2026. For two years, Penn will not use analytics and advertising technologies on pennmedicine.org unless its web governance committee determines that use is lawful.
Which trackers were named?
Five, in the amended complaint: the Facebook (Meta) Tracking Pixel, Google Analytics, the LinkedIn Insight Tag, the TikTok Pixel, and the Snap Pixel. Patient information moving to five third parties at once is the multi-platform version of the problem.
What law was used?
The Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (WESCA), a state wiretap statute now used against website tracking the way California’s CIPA is.
Related cases
Aspen Dental’s pixel-tracking settlement
Meta Pixel and Google Analytics on appointment site (alleged)
Kaiser Permanente’s pixel settlement
Quantum Metric, X, Adobe, Bing, Google trackers
LifeStance’s $3M pixel settlement
Meta and Google tracking; mental-health data; 5-year limit on non-HIPAA-compliant pixels
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