The FTC says Hims & Hers turned prescription refill data into ad-targeting fuel.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit alleging the online health provider shared users' health information with advertising platforms including Meta and Snap. The agency says this happened without the kind of clear disclosure health data typically demands. Regulators also point to a separate pattern of complaints from consumers who found it unexpectedly difficult to cancel their subscriptions. Neither the scope of the data shared nor the number of affected users has been detailed in what's public so far.
Telehealth companies collect exactly the kind of information - prescriptions, conditions, symptoms - that people assume stays between them and a provider. If that data is routed into ad platforms optimized for behavioral targeting, the privacy expectations baked into "health" branding start to look more like marketing than policy. It also lands amid broader FTC scrutiny of dark patterns in subscription cancellation, tying two separate consumer-protection fights to one company.
For a company that built its pitch on discretion, that's a hard headline to spin.