Analytics from Mixpanel
Mixpanel and website tracking lawsuits
What Suitcast knows about Mixpanel
Medium risk
- Type
- Analytics
- Vendor
- Mixpanel
Requests the scanner matches to it
- cdn.mxpnl.com
- api-js.mixpanel.com
- api.mixpanel.com
- .mixpanel.com
- .mxpnl.com
The short answer
Mixpanel is an analytics script from Mixpanel. Suitcast rates its risk under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, CIPA, as medium, because complaints describe scripts like it recording visitors before they consent. The fix is to load it only after a visitor accepts, or to remove it when it is not used.
Why complaints name it
Complaints describe it as assigning visitors an ID and sending their actions to a third party before consent.
The act allows $5,000 per violation, which is why firms look for scripts that run the moment a page opens.
The fix
How to stop Mixpanel firing before consent
Ask your developer to initialize Mixpanel only after the visitor clicks accept, using the opt-out-by-default setting.
Remove it if it was set up for a project that ended.
How the scan checks this
- Loads your pages like a first visit. A real browser, nothing clicked, nothing accepted.
- Checks every request before the banner is answered. A request to cdn.mxpnl.com is matched to Mixpanel and recorded with the millisecond it fired.
- Clicks reject and watches again. When the banner has a reject button, the scan presses it; if Mixpanel keeps firing, the report says so.
Scanner rules and limits are on the methodology page.
Same type
Other analytics scripts the scanner checks
Questions owners ask
- Is having Mixpanel on my site illegal?
- No. The complaints do not claim the script is illegal; they claim it recorded a visitor before the visitor consented, or kept recording after the visitor declined. Loading Mixpanel only after consent, or removing it when it is not used, is what removes the pattern the complaints describe.
- How do I know if Mixpanel fires before consent on my site?
- Run the free scan. It loads your pages without clicking anything and checks every request that leaves the browser against its tracker catalog, recording the millisecond each match fired. If Mixpanel appears, it fired before consent. When your banner has a reject button, the scan clicks it and reports whether the script kept firing.
- Where do the case counts on this page come from?
- From the complaint text of verified California Invasion of Privacy Act filings. When a complaint names this script, the case is linked to it. Complaints that are not yet available in the public record are not counted, so the number is a floor.
Keep going
- Every tracking script the scanner recognizesGrouped by type, with the risk and fix for each.
- Which scripts appear most in privacy lawsuitsWhat each records and how to gate it.
- I got a CIPA demand letter. What now?What the letter means and the first week.
- Website lawsuits in CaliforniaWhere most tracking suits are filed.
Does Mixpanel fire before consent on your site?
Suitcast identifies risk indicators. It is not legal advice and does not determine compliance.