Troubleshooting Session Replay Asterisk Masking in Mixpanel | Mixpanel Community

Troubleshooting Session Replay Asterisk Masking in Mixpanel

I'm setting up session replay via GTM. I am using Mixpanel template tag with type tag, start_session_recording. The recording is working correctly, and I can see the "Session Recording Checkpoint" event on the platform. I've overridden the default values for the init options (record_block_selector, record_mask_text_class, record_mask_text_selector) so that page elements are not masked with asterisks, in order to test and see the differences. I left the values empty so that empty strings would be inserted by default, but the recordings on the Mixpanel platform still show content masked with asterisks. Why is that?

2 comments

kapa.ai
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Hi Andrea S., Please stand by as I search the Mixpanel knowledge base for an AI-powered answer. I normally take about 15 seconds or so. In case AI cannot answer your question, feel free to reach out to Mixpanel support at mixpanel.com/get-support. If you have follow-up questions for this thread, please tag me again with your question: @kapa.ai <follow-up question> 👋
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kapa.ai
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I understand you're having an issue with your Mixpanel Session Replay configuration in Google Tag Manager, where content is still being masked with asterisks despite your attempts to override the default masking settings.Based on the knowledge sources, there's an important detail about Mixpanel's privacy-first approach to Session Replay that explains your issue: > Mixpanel offers a privacy-first approach to Session Replay, including features such as data masking... The Mixpanel SDK will always mask all inputs. By default, all text on a page will also be masked unless a different record_mask_text_selector is specified. Mixpanel SDKs: JavascriptThe key point here is that Mixpanel's Session Replay is designed with privacy as a priority. Even if you're setting empty strings for the masking selectors, Mixpanel has certain default behaviors that can't be completely disabled: 1. Input fields will always be masked - this is non-negotiable for privacy reasons 2. Text masking can be customized but requires proper configuration of the record_mask_text_selectorWhen implementing Session Replay through GTM, you need to ensure you're properly configuring these options. Simply leaving the values empty might not be sufficient to override the default privacy controls.For GTM implementation specifically, you should: 1. Make sure you're using the correct option keys in your tag configuration 2. Use proper CSS selectors for the record_mask_text_selector to specify which text elements should NOT be masked 3. Consider using record_mask_text_class to specify classes that should be maskedYou can find more details about implementing Session Replay with GTM here: Google Tag Manager (GTM)If you continue to have issues, you might want to check the Session Replay privacy controls documentation for more detailed information on how to properly configure these settings.
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