United States of America: Issued FTC proposed order banning BetterHelp from sharing consumers’ health data including a USD 7.8 million fine

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Issued FTC proposed order banning BetterHelp from sharing consumers’ health data including a USD 7.8 million fine

On 2 March 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a proposed order banning BetterHelp, an online counselling service, from sharing consumers’ health data with certain third parties for re-targeting purposes. In particular, the FTC found that BetterHelp had used and disclosed consumers’ email addresses, IP addresses, and health questionnaire information to Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo, and Pinterest for advertising purposes. The FTC also found that BetterHelp failed to maintain sufficient measures to protect health data and did not obtain consumers’ express consent before disclosing their data. The proposed order requires the company to pay UDS 7.8 million to consumers to settle charges that it disclosed their sensitive data to third parties. Furthermore, the FTC has required BetterHelp to obtain express affirmative consent before disclosing personal information to certain third parties for any purpose, implement a comprehensive privacy program protecting consumer data, direct third parties to delete the consumer health and other personal data that BetterHelp disclosed to them, and limit retention periods according to a data retention schedule.

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Scope

Policy Area
Data governance
Policy Instrument
Data protection regulation
Regulated Economic Activity
other service provider
Implementation Level
national
Government Branch
executive
Government Body
data protection authority

Complete timeline of this policy change

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2023-03-02
under investigation

On 2 March 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a proposed order banning BetterHelp, an …

2023-07-14
in force

On 14 July 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalised an order prohibiting BetterHelp, an o…