Be careful with your personal information! Many of us, including myself, use the Flo period-tracking app. I first started using this app after my first menstrual cycle to help me keep track of when my period would arrive. Little did I know that Flo would be using this information with alleged ulterior motives.
If you used the Flo app from November 2016 to February 2019, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Why? A class action lawsuit alleging the sale of reproductive health information from Flo to Google was settled for a whopping 56 million dollars.
Companies often use your data for a variety of services, including targeted advertising and personalized content. Google, for instance, creates individual “user profiles” for each account, collecting data from what you watch to the content of your emails. This is kind of like how your TikTok algorithm adjusts to your personal likes and wants. When you sign the terms and conditions, you sign away some amount of your privacy. Now, these companies are not allowed to sell this information to any source, yet they allegedly still do.
Looking through Google’s terms and conditions I found a couple of key sentences that stood out to me.
“We may also collect information about you from trusted partners… to provide advertising and research services on their behalf.”
–Google Privacy Policy
So, Google not only uses the data that it collects from its own services, but also from third parties. This does not excuse the buying or selling of our personal information, however. Google also states that “We don’t show you personalized ads based on sensitive categories, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, or health.”
Under California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, META was found guilty of unlawfully intercepting, recording or eavesdropping on the confidential communications of individuals, particularly California residents. Or more simply, taking our private information WITHOUT consent. Post-verdict from the META trial, Google and Flo chose to settle. This settlement has not been finalized.
In Flo’s privacy policy from 2016, the company states:
“We do not sell any of your information, including information gained through HealthKit or Google Fit, to advertising platforms, data brokers or information resellers.”
– Flo’s Privacy Policy (2016)
They do however outline that information shared between Google Fit and Flo would be available to both servicing companies. They have since updated this policy many times over.
What does this mean for us? Firstly and most importantly, you may be eligible for some cash from this settlement. Once the settlement is finalized, this page will post an updated form to claim your money.
The next step you should take is to consider using different period-tracking apps that are focused on privacy.
These actions by large companies are a part of the overarching problem of data privacy online and the issues that accompany our technological reliance. As society uses technology more, the businesses that provide us with services gain more of our data, learning more about us than ever before.