Online counseling platform BetterHelp shares user data with companies like Facebook and Snapchat for advertising purposes without explicit consent, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges.
The company, which operates under a number of other names, has agreed to pay €7.8 million to consumers who signed up for its services between August 1, 2017 and December 31, 2020.
Subject to a 30-day public comment period, the FTC will make a final determination to order BetterHelp to assume a number of liabilities that may require BetterHelp to stop sharing personally identifiable information with third parties.
BetterHelp Data Sharing
According to an FTC document (opens in a new tab), email addresses, IP addresses, health status, and history, including current and prior therapies, had been shared with third parties. It explains that BetterHelp "has repeatedly promised to keep it private and use it for non-advertising purposes only," which has since been proven false over a seven-year period, from 2013 to 2020.
It was also found that employees lacked proper training in handling sensitive data and that, in several cases, third-party companies had been allowed to use the data for their own research and product development.
Data sharing has in many cases taken place over an extended period of time. Between 2017 and 2018, for example, BetterHelp downloaded more than 7 million Facebook email addresses. The platform then linked 4 million of them to existing Facebook user accounts.
IP address sharing has also been used to retarget previous users with more advertisements in an attempt to generate revenue.
In response to the case, BetterHelp (opens in a new tab) explained:
“To clarify, we do not and never share with advertisers, publishers, social media platforms, or any other similar third party, private information such as member names or clinical data from therapy sessions. In addition, we do not and have not received any payment from a third party for any information about any of our members.