May 7, 2024 at 12:50PM
BetterHelp has agreed to a $7.8 million settlement with the FTC over misuse of consumer health data for advertising. The platform, founded in 2013, offers mental health counseling through various channels. The FTC investigation revealed data collection without consent and sharing with several platforms. Refunds for eligible consumers will be processed by Ankura Consulting.
Following the settlement agreement between BetterHelp and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), BetterHelp has agreed to pay $7.8 million in refunds to consumers for sharing their sensitive data for advertising purposes. This comes after an investigation into the handling of customer data revealed that BetterHelp collected information without consent from its app users or website visitors, and shared this data with various platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo, and Pinterest.
Eligible consumers who signed up for and paid for BetterHelp’s services between August 1, 2017, and December 31, 2020, will receive refunds. It’s estimated that roughly 800,000 people qualify for this refund program. Furthermore, the refund program also includes other services operating under the BetterHelp umbrella, such as MyTherapist, Teen Counseling, Faithful Counseling, Pride Counseling, iCounseling, Regain, and Terappeuta.
Ankura Consulting, the entity handling the refund process, will notify users via email, and they will have until June 10, 2024, to declare their desired payment method, including options such as checks, Zelle, and PayPal. All payments will be sent out to consumers this summer.