The FTC Just Sued Hims & Hers for Sharing Your Health Data With Meta and Snap

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Hims & Hers, alleging that the telehealth provider shared its clients' sensitive personal health information with advertisers such as Meta and Snapchat without user consent. The lawsuit also alleges that Hims followed exploitative billing practices.^[1]

Hims & Hers is one of the largest telehealth providers in the United States, offering consultations and prescriptions for mental health issues, weight management, and sexual wellness.

As such, it holds a vast repository of personally identifiable information that, in the wrong hands, could lead to a barrage of targeted advertising and even cyberattacks.

Here's everything the lawsuit claims Hims & Hers did wrong, how the company responded, and what you can do to protect your personal health information.

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What are the accusations against Hims & Hers

According to the complaint, Hims & Hers used pixel-based trackers from advertising companies such as Meta, Snap, Microsoft, Reddit, Pinterest, and X to capture and share users' health information, despite promising to protect patients' privacy.

The FTC also alleges that the company used Meta's tracking tool to monitor users' clicks on its website. Additionally, the company allegedly shared lists of certain customers with these advertising companies.

However, information on the exact type of data shared appears to be redacted throughout the official filing.

The lawsuit also accuses Hims & Hers of using deceptive billing and cancellation practices. Clients are required to fill out an intake form on the website before they can be paired with a suitable healthcare professional and are also required to enter their billing details during the process.

While Hims says that customers are not charged before their medications are prescribed, many customers have complained to the FTC that they were charged for prescribed medications even before a doctor's appointment.

The FTC also alleges that customers are subscribed to a prescription treatment shortly after filling out the intake forms without having a chance to review or approve it.

Worse still, Hims allegedly makes it very difficult for customers to cancel their subscriptions.

• First, it doesn’t provide transparent information about the exact billing cycle, causing many clients to miss the cancellation period while continuing to incur recurring charges.
• Earlier, clients could only cancel subscriptions over email, chat, or phone, and the company added various obstacles along the way, making cancellations difficult.
• Even though Hims started offering online cancellations in 2023, that process wasn’t transparent either. The cancel button was hidden, and users could only find it after navigating several steps on the website.

Hims & Hers denies the allegations

Hims & Hers has responded to the lawsuit, saying that it disregards substantial evidence the company provided to the FTC during its three-year investigation.

The company also said that the lawsuit overlooks industry standards in telehealth and established state laws and even goes as far as contorting the law to manufacture claims.

"This is not enforcement grounded in consumer protection; it is an effort to generate headlines at our expense. We are confident in our position and will vigorously defend ourselves against these baseless claims," said Hims & Hers.

It also said that its customers have the information they need to make informed decisions about its services. The company underlined that its privacy policy allows patients to choose how their data is used and that the information is used only to provide care.

FTC's crackdown on healthcare providers

This isn’t the first time the FTC has taken action against healthcare providers for sharing personal data.

1. A lawsuit similar to the one against Hims & Hers was filed by the FTC against Cerebral, a mental health telehealth platform, in April 2024. The FTC accused the company of following deceptive cancellation practices and sharing the sensitive health data of 3.2 million people. The lawsuit was settled, with the company having to pay $7 million in consumer refunds.
2. The FTC filed a lawsuit against GoodRx, an online pharmacy and discount platform, for sharing users' health data with Google, Facebook, and other advertising companies without user permission. The case was settled in February 2023, with GoodRx paying a $1.5 million civil penalty and agreeing never to share health data for advertising purposes.
3. Similarly, the FTC filed a lawsuit against BetterHelp, an online therapy provider, for sharing mental health data, including email addresses, with companies like Snapchat, Facebook, Pinterest, and Criteo. The case was settled in March 2023, and the company agreed to pay $7.8 million.

What can you do to protect yourself

Hims & Hers actually offers a dedicated Privacy Center, which allows you to take various actions regarding your personal information.

Visit privacy.hims.com and select Make a New Privacy Request. Under this, you will see various options:

• Access my data
• Delete my non-account data
• Do not sell my personal information
• Delete all of my data
• Do not contact

You can select the option that best suits your needs. For this specific situation, you might want to select Do not sell my personal information.

After this, you may be required to verify your identity by confirming your email and other details before proceeding with the request.

If you’re a resident of Oregon, Delaware, Connecticut, Washington, or Nevada, you may also request a report listing the exact third parties with whom your data was shared.

Unfortunately, however, if you've been a Hims & Hers client in the past, your health information may already be with advertisers. In that case, you'll want to fine-tune your ad platform settings on Meta and Snap.

To change this setting on Meta, open Instagram or Facebook.

1. Go to Settings & Privacy.
2. Select Accounts Center.
3. Tap Your Information and Permissions.
4. Select Activity from Other Businesses.
5. Select Don't allow us to use this activity to show you relevant content.

Similarly, open Settings in Snapchat and scroll down to find the Ad Preferences option. Then, toggle off Activity-based Ads.

Note that these settings may not prevent other businesses from sharing your data with Meta or Snap, but they could prevent Meta from using that information to personalize your experience.

Below, we’ve highlighted a few more steps you can take in light of this lawsuit:

1. Monitor bank statements: Check your bank statements for any recurring charges from Hims & Hers, especially those debited after you filed a cancellation request or those charged before you could consult a healthcare professional on the platform.
2. Keep records: Save screenshots of your cancellation attempts, communications, and billing statements if you want to file a complaint with the FTC. You can do so at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
3. Use identity theft protection: If you’re worried about the broader exposure of your sensitive health-related information — which can be used in social engineering attacks such as phishing — an identity theft protection service can help improve your cyber hygiene by alerting you if it finds your information in data breaches or on the dark web.

Bottom line

FTC’s lawsuit against Hims & Hers calls the company out for not only exploitative billing and cancellation practices but also for sharing its patients' sensitive health information with third-party advertisers like Meta and Snap, all without their consent.

However, the company said that the agency has contorted the law to manufacture these baseless claims. Going by previous instances, a final decision will likely take a lot of time, with the company being slapped with a fine, if anything.

So, it’s important you reclaim your digital privacy. Request your personal data from Hims & Hers and opt out of targeted advertising by visiting its Privacy Center. For additional security, you can adjust your ad platform settings on both Meta and Snap or use an identity theft protection service, which can alert you to any past or future data breaches.

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Author Details

Krishi Chowdhary

About the Author

Krishi Chowdhary specializes in digital privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer technology. He has written extensively on online privacy tools and broader cybersecurity topics, including online scams, data breaches, age verification, and emerging digital threats. Krishi believes technology reporting should empower readers, not confuse them, and is committed to making even the most technical subjects easy to understand without compromising on accuracy or depth. His work has appeared in leading technology publications, including CNET, ExpressVPN, and TechRadar, where he has covered topics ranging from cybersecurity incidents and privacy product announcements to artificial intelligence and major technology news