BetterHelp, a virtual mental health company owned by Teladoc, agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission $7.8 million over allegations it shared customer health data with third parties, Politico reported March 2.
The FTC alleged that despite promises from BetterHelp that personal data is kept confidential, it shared sensitive health information to Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest for marketing purposes, according to the publication.
Under the settlement, the company is barred from sharing customer health data with third parties for advertising purposes, the report said. It also must ensure the third-party recipients delete any consumer data received from the company.
The company is now required to get explicit consent from consumers to share their data for any additional purposes, limit how long it stores personal data and implement a privacy program, according to Politico.
The FTC will use the $7.8 million settlement to partially refund affected BetterHelp customers.