"BetterHelp Shared Users’ Sensitive Health Data, FTC Says"

The online counseling service BetterHelp has recently agreed to return $7.8 million to customers to settle with the Federal Trade Commission for sharing health data it had promised to keep private, including information about mental health challenges with companies including Facebook and Snapchat.  The proposed FTC order also limits how the California-based company may share consumer data in the future.  BetterHelp said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing and that the behavior for which it was sanctioned is standard for the industry.  Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated that BetterHelp betrayed consumers’ most personal health information for profit.  The enforcement action follows a similar one on Feb. 1 in which telehealth and prescription drug discount provider GoodRx Holdings were assessed a $1.7 million penalty for sharing users’ personal health data with Facebook, Google, and other third parties without their consent.  The FTC has made it clear of its intent to crack down on the trafficking of sensitive health data by businesses not strictly classified as health care providers and thus not covered by HIPAA, the federal privacy rules that govern the health care industry.  The FTC stated that during the signup process, customers were promised BetterHelp would not use or disclose their personal health data except for limited purposes, such as to provide counseling.   The FTC noted that the company nevertheless revealed data, including email and IP addresses and questionnaire information, to Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo, and Pinterest for advertising purposes.  The FTC also accused BetterHelp of misleading customers and the public in 2020 by falsely denying news reports that it had revealed customers’ personal data to third parties.  Under the proposed order, BetterHelp will provide partial refunds for customers who used the service from Aug. 1, 2017, until the end of 2020.  

SecurityWeek reports: "BetterHelp Shared Users’ Sensitive Health Data, FTC Says"