Regulator action · 14 July 2023
In re BetterHelp, Inc.
FTC Docket No. C-4796 (2023) · United States Federal Trade Commission
What it means for your code
A marketing pixel on an intake or symptom flow ships health data off-platform. Treat those pages as a no-third-party-script zone.
What happened
A therapy service promised that intake questionnaire answers would stay private, then passed the answers and email addresses to advertising platforms for audience targeting.
What was decided
Sharing health information with advertisers after promising confidentiality is deceptive; the company was ordered to pay refunds and is banned from disclosing health data for advertising.
⚖ USD 7.8 million in consumer refunds
The legal test applied
- Disclosing health information to advertisers after promising confidentiality is deceptive
- A pixel firing on an intake flow is a disclosure of the information the flow collects
- Consumer refunds and a ban on the disclosure are available remedies
What would have changed the outcome
- Marketing tags kept entirely off health-related paths avoid the disclosure
Source: United States Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov. Summary and analysis by Lawpatch. Risk analysis, not legal advice; the law may have moved on since this decision.