The Federal Trade Commission is suing Hims & Hers for allegedly sharing sensitive patient data with tech giants and misleading consumers.
The Federal Trade Commission is suing healthcare giant Hims & Hers for allegedly sharing its customers’ medical and healthcare information with advertisers and tech giants, such as Meta and Snap. The federal consumer watchdog filed a complaint in a California federal court, alleging that Hims & Hers used pixel-sized trackers from companies like Microsoft, Pinterest, Reddit, and X to capture and share user health data, which contradicted the company's own privacy policy. Additionally, the FTC accused the company of deceptive billing and creating policies that allegedly made it difficult for customers to cancel their services. In response, Hims & Hers did not explicitly deny the claims but stated that its privacy policy makes clear how users can choose how their data is used. The company expressed confidence in its position and plans to defend against the allegations. This lawsuit follows a series of similar actions by the FTC against other healthcare and data companies, including Cerebral, Monument, GoodRx, and BetterHelp, for sharing sensitive patient data with third-party advertisers without explicit customer knowledge.