BETTERHELP · MENTAL HEALTH · FTC
BetterHelp promised privacy while the FTC alleged it disclosed sensitive mental-health information for advertising.
Counseling intake data → Facebook / Snapchat / ad-tech → targeted advertising → $7.8 million settlement
BetterHelp marketed online counseling through services including BetterHelp, Teen Counseling, Pride Counseling, Faithful Counseling and others. The FTC alleged that consumers were promised limited use of their personal health information but that BetterHelp disclosed email addresses, IP addresses and answers to personal health questions to Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest for advertising.
The FTC finalized an order in 2023 requiring BetterHelp to pay $7.8 million, prohibiting disclosure of health data for advertising and requiring affirmative consent for certain future disclosures. Refund notices ultimately went to hundreds of thousands of consumers.
Primary source: FTC — BetterHelp final order
This page preserves the anecdote and its caveats separately from the shorter Why Privacy Matters explainer. The goal is to keep the argument readable without hiding the receipts.