FTC sues Hims & Hers over sharing health data with ad platforms
- Aug 4
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
On 29 July 2026 the FTC, with California and Utah, sued telehealth firm Hims & Hers for allegedly sharing consumers' sensitive health data with ad platforms including Meta and Snap despite privacy promises — a stark warning on first-party health data in ad targeting.
A privacy case aimed at the ad stack
The FTC, joined by California and Utah, has sued telehealth company Hims & Hers, alleging it shared consumers' sensitive health information with advertising platforms including Meta and Snap despite promising to protect it. The complaint also targets deceptive billing — charging customers before promised provider consultations — and deliberately difficult cancellation.
This isn't a fringe data-broker case. It targets a mainstream, heavily-advertised direct-to-consumer brand and names the ad platforms in the data flow, putting every advertiser's measurement stack under the spotlight.
Why every marketer should read this complaint
Pixels, conversion APIs and audience uploads are the plumbing of modern performance marketing. When the data flowing through them is health-related — and the privacy policy said it wouldn't be shared — that plumbing becomes a legal liability. The FTC is signalling that 'we used a standard pixel' is no defence.
The billing and cancellation allegations matter too. Regulators increasingly treat the whole funnel — from acquisition claim to cancellation friction — as one deceptive practice. Dark patterns at the cancel step now carry the same risk as a misleading ad.
Marketing Minute's read: your martech is now a compliance surface
Our take: the uncomfortable truth is that marketing and legal can no longer live in separate buildings. If your pixel fires on a health, finance or other sensitive signal and your policy implies otherwise, you have a problem regardless of intent.
For UK advertisers, this rhymes with GDPR, the ICO's stance and the DMCC Act's rules on subscriptions and dark patterns. The action point: audit what your pixels and conversion APIs actually transmit, map it against your privacy policy, and fix the cancellation flow before a regulator does.
Quick FAQ
What is the FTC alleging against Hims & Hers?
That it shared consumers' sensitive health data with ad platforms including Meta and Snap despite promising to protect it, and used deceptive billing and hard-to-cancel subscriptions.
Why does this matter to marketers?
It targets everyday martech — pixels, conversion APIs, audience uploads — and signals that transmitting sensitive data through them, against your own privacy policy, is a legal risk.
What should advertisers do now?
Audit exactly what your pixels and conversion APIs send, reconcile it with your privacy policy, and remove dark patterns from cancellation flows.
— Dimitro Cohen, Technology & Ad-Tech Correspondent at Marketing Minute
The FTC just made every advertiser's pixel a legal question: audit what your conversion tags actually transmit, reconcile it with your privacy policy, and de-risk your cancellation flow before a regulator does it for you.
Do you actually know what data your marketing pixels and conversion APIs are sending to the ad platforms right now?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: US Federal Trade Commission and TechCrunch.
Related reading
Written by Dimitro Cohen, Technology & Ad-Tech Correspondent at Marketing Minute
Comments