BetterHelp Should Pay $7.8 Million for Sharing Sensitive Data, FTC Says – CNET [CNET]

The online mental health services platform shared data with advertisers, including mental health information, according the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed order.

Online counseling and mental health services company BetterHelp should stop sharing customer data with advertisers and reimburse $7.8 million to customers, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday. The FTC says that BetterHelp shared customers’ sensitive health data, including mental health issues, with advertisers including Facebook and Snapchat.

“BetterHelp promised consumers that it would not use or disclose their personal health data except for limited purposes, such as to provide counseling services,” the FTC release says. “Despite these promises, BetterHelp used and revealed consumers’ email addresses, IP addresses, and health questionnaire information to Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo, and Pinterest for advertising purposes.”

The FTC’s proposed consent order would require BetterHelp to reimburse $7.8 million to people who used the service between Aug. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2020. The consent order would also ban the company from sharing health information for advertising purposes and require it to establish “a comprehensive privacy program,” tell third parties to delete the data it has already shared and limit how long it can keep such data on hand.

The proposed consent order will be open to public comment for 30 days before a final decision is reached.

BetterHelp did not immediately respond to request for comment.