US EditionSan Francisco Jury Finds Meta Illegally Harvested Menstrual Health Data From Flo App
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, AUG 6 – A federal jury ruled Meta violated California's wiretap law by collecting sensitive menstrual health data from millions of Flo app users without consent for targeted advertising.
- On Friday, the US District Court for the Northern District of California found Meta Platforms Inc. violated California's Invasion of Privacy Act by harvesting sensitive data from Flo app without consent.
- In 2021, plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Flo Health, Meta, Google, AppsFlyer, and Flurry over data harvesting via SDKs and Custom App Events.
- According to court documents, Meta's tracking pixel intercepted private menstrual cycles and pregnancy details, while Facebook's Business Tools Terms stated `You will not share Customer Data with us that you know or reasonably should know... includes health`.
- Following the verdict, a Meta spokesperson told The Register, `We vigorously disagree with this outcome and are exploring all legal options`, and Michael Canty said, `This is a landmark moment` in digital privacy rights.
- The ruling could prompt Congress to accelerate federal privacy legislation, reinforcing calls for reforms to curb unchecked data flows by tech firms.
35 Articles
35 Articles
Federal jury finds Meta illegally farmed data from Flo period-tracker app
Meta — owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — illegally accessed the data of people who used the period-tracking app Flo, and did so without their consent, a federal jury ruled. The health app has been the focus of other privacy concerns, having settled with the Federal Trade Commission for sharing users’ information with third parties. The California jury found Meta guilty in a class action lawsuit filed by Erica Frasco against the social …
Facebook parent violated wiretap law, California jury finds
(Photo by Minette Lontsie via Wikimedia Commons) Meta Platforms, the parent company of social apps Facebook and Instagram, violated California’s anti-wiretap law when it indiscriminately collected and used personal data from a health app for commercial purposes, a federal jury determined last week. The decision followed a seven-day trial in California federal court and stems from a 2021 class-action lawsuit brought by users of the Flo period-tra…
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