Telehealth startups offering private, on-demand virtual care have been sharing some of the sensitive information gathered during a patient's intake and checkout process with big tech companies, TheMarkup reported Dec. 13.
TheMarkup analyzed 50 direct-to-consumer telehealth companies and found that at least 49 of them leaked sensitive medical information they collect to the world's largest advertising platforms.
Four other key things to know:
- On 13 of the 50 websites, at least one tracker from Meta, Google, TikTok, Bing, Snap, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest collected patients' answers to medical intake questions.
- Trackers on 25 sites told at least one big tech platform that the user had added an item like a prescription medication to their cart or checked out with a subscription for a treatment plan.
- All but one website examined sent URLs users visited on the site and their IP addresses to at least one tech company.
- Amazon Clinic was the only telehealth company that did not share data with other tech companies.
Dale Hogan, a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta, told TheMarkup that advertisers "should not send sensitive information about people through our Business Tools."