Do Hospitals Need to Rethink the Metapixel?; Reddit taps DoubleVerify as the go-to place for brand safety

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Hashing Out HIPAA

Facebook marketing pixels are ubiquitous. And hospitals are marketers. But do hospitals send proprietary data in meta site tags?

The markup tested the websites of top 100 hospitals in America and found that 33 of them sent health data (including the reason for an appointment) with the Meta Pixel when patients book appointments online, for example. These pixels are triggered to register data points – “events” in attribution jargon – that the hospital uses to inform its own patients or marketing activities.

The data is hashed but can be linked to a device or household, and Meta also links this data to specific Facebook profiles.

“I am deeply concerned about what [the hospitals] to do with the collection and sharing of their data – it’s very likely a HIPAA violation,” Health Privacy Advisor David Holtzman told The Markup.

The HIPAA violation mainly depends on the IP address, which is also conveyed by the meta pixel. When connected to health data, an IP address qualifies for HIPAA protection.

The potential use of this data collection by hospitals is gaining importance if and when Roe vs. Wade will be nullified, as expected sometime this summer. In some states, hospitals could be required by law to report women who have requested abortions or certain drugs.

After being contacted about the story, six of the 33 hospitals have already removed the website pixel.

Collect Reddit Credits

A press release for a brand safety partnership, integration, certification program or whatever rarely deserves interest. But yesterday, Reddit and DoubleVerify broke that rule of thumb with the news that DV will be an exclusive, integrated solution for visibility, invalid traffic detection, and brand safety on Reddit.

Platforms and publishers rarely grant exclusive rights to providers, particularly the likes of DoubleVerify, as a handful of services with similar footprints are widespread across the ecosystem. This is no coincidence Announcement from Reddit mentions exclusivity only at the bottom while DoubleVerify announces it in the first sentence.

Also, Reddit has a third-party verification partnership with Oracle-owned Moat.

For the exclusivity tag alone, it’s a coup for DoubleVerify. Other social platforms take an affiliate program approach and are likely to have providers like Integral Ad Science, Zefr and Human, and DV and/or Moat. (Although Reddit isn’t committed perpetually).

Winning the Reddit brand security contract also comes with risks. Reddit and its ad platform have matured, but it’s still crammed with brand safety booby traps. It will be up to DoubleVerify to find these before advertisers stumble upon them.

Messages you can use

A group of ad tech veterans have launched an open-source product called Brands4News.org, which includes creative templates and a whitelist of news publishers that brands can use to run ads alongside current crises or social issues like war in Ukraine or abortion-related coverage in the US – which is otherwise usually demonstrated due to perceived branding issues.

News companies are in a bind because the most needed coverage, even extremely well-read stories, is often kryptonite from ad revenue. The program currently includes 18 Ukrainian news agencies, as well as 28 other major global publishers. The drum reports.

Brands4News is supported by a small group of programmatic volunteers: the group was founded by Ruben Schreurs, Ebiquity’s Chief Product Officer – although the project has nothing to do with Ebiquity. Executives from Magnite, Jounce Media, FirstPartyCapital and Kepler Group are among the volunteer funders.

“We have delivered something that we believe can help support quality journalism,” Schreurs said in a statement. “And we hope that brands will allocate some of their advertising budgets to this purpose.”

Programmatic and online advertising platforms been in the spotlight while Ukrainian backers suggest things Western backers can do to help the effort.

But wait, there’s more!

Big Tech’s political ad bans are a major charade. [Protocol]

Introducing Instacart+, a grocery subscription loyalty program. [release]

Spotify takes over audio book distributor Findaway. [Variety]

FuboTV integrates betting games into its live sports content. [release]

Class action lawsuit over Google’s sale of personal user information overcomes dismissal. [Courthouse News]

Revlon files for bankruptcy as online competition takes its toll. [Reuters]

Google Discover faces a major problem: Plagiarism in Web Stories. [9to5Google]

PE-backed Canadian holding company Plus Company acquires advertising agency Mekanism and adds Accenture vet Brian Whipple as chairman. [WSJ]

Samsung is launching a mobile wallet app to compete with Google and Apple. [CNET]

You are hired!

OpenX hires Geoff Wolinetz to oversee demand-side platform relationships. [release]

Kantar appoints Merkle as Will Bordelon’s veterinarian as CEO of his Insights Americas division. [MediaPost]

CreatorIQ appoints Jon Namnath as Chief Operating Officer. [release]

Viamedia Promotes Sales Director Rick Tarvin to CRO. [Broadcasting+Cable]

Verisk Marketing Solutions hires Christine Frohlich as Head of Data Governance. [release]