A California jury has discovered that Meta illegally collected person well being information from the Flo period-tracking app, violating the state’s wiretap legislation. The decision concludes a lawsuit filed in opposition to Flo, Google, Meta, and app analytics firm Flurry in 2021, wherein Flo app customers accused the businesses of amassing their non-public menstrual well being information with out consent for focused promoting.
Whereas Flo promised to maintain customers’ delicate reproductive well being data non-public, the lawsuit alleged that Flo allowed Google and Meta to snoop on in-app communications between November 2016 and February 2019, violating California’s Invasion of Privateness Act. The instances in opposition to Flo, Google, and Flurry had been resolved via undisclosed settlements earlier than the trial, leaving Meta as the one remaining defendant.
The jury reached a verdict on Monday that there was a “preponderance” of proof exhibiting Meta had “deliberately eavesdropped on and/or recorded conversations utilizing an digital machine,” unbeknownst to Flo app customers. Whereas monetary damages have but to be determined, every violation of the California Invasion of Privateness Act can lead to a penalty of $5,000, with the lawsuit filed on behalf of “hundreds of thousands” of Flo customers.
“This verdict sends a transparent message in regards to the safety of digital well being information and the obligations of Huge Tech,” lead trial attorneys Michael P. Canty and Carol C. Villegas said in a statement. “Corporations like Meta that covertly revenue from customers’ most intimate data have to be held accountable.”
Meta has objected to the decision and can probably enchantment the choice.
“We vigorously disagree with this consequence and are exploring all authorized choices,” Meta stated in a statement reported by TechCrunch. “The plaintiffs’ claims in opposition to Meta are merely false. Consumer privateness is vital to Meta, which is why we don’t need well being or different delicate data, and why our phrases prohibit builders from sending any.”
