FTC sues Hims & Hers, alleging it shared health data with Meta, Snap

The Federal Trade Commission has sued Hims & Hers, a telehealth platform, accusing it of improperly sharing sensitive customer health information with third-party advertising platforms like Meta and Snap. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that Hims & Hers violated its own privacy promises by disclosing this data, despite assuring users that their medical conditions and health information would remain private.

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Hims was only able to create audiences with such specificity because it flouted the promises it made to its users about treating their medical conditions 'privately' or keeping their health information private.

The FTC's complaint specifically points to the use of tracking technologies offered by Meta, which monitor user activity on the Hims & Hers website. The agency asserts that this data sharing allowed Hims & Hers to create highly specific advertising audiences by exploiting users' private health details. The company's stock saw a nearly 15% drop following the lawsuit's announcement.

Hims & Hers has strongly refuted the FTC's claims, labeling them as "baseless" and vowing to contest the lawsuit. In a statement on social media, the company maintained that customers have the necessary information to make informed decisions about their care and data usage. They also emphasized that information shared with healthcare providers is used solely for providing care, as outlined in their Privacy Policy.

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Our customers have the information they need to make informed decisions about their care and the use of our services. And our Privacy Policy makes clear that they may choose how their data is used, and that information patients share with their healthcare providers is used only in providing care.

Beyond the data-sharing allegations, the FTC also accused Hims & Hers of failing to clearly disclose prescription charges and making it difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions. This adds another layer to the consumer protection concerns raised by the agency regarding the telehealth service's practices.

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The FTC's complaint lays out a troubling scenario, consumers unknowingly locked into recurring subscriptions and the disclosure to third parties of consumers' most private health information without their consent.