Major telehealth giant Hims & Hers is the latest target of a Federal Trade variation Commission (FTC) crackdown on consumer data privacy, following a years-long investigation into whether or not the related company term was selling sensitive customer alternative health data.
In a new filing issued July 29 by the agency, joined by the states of Utah and California, the federal watchdog has formally accused the direct-to-consumer health company variation of sharing patient information with advertisers and tech giants like Meta and Snap. The FTC claims Hims & Hers provided the companies with lists of related customer term names, as well as information on their site behavior, despite pledging to protect related customer term data privacy. Such disclosures violate FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, the FTC argues.
The lawsuit also alleges the platform “deceives users about its billing and cancellation practices,” including making it difficult to cancel subscriptions and mischaracterizing the process for prescription charges for new patients. Specifically, the FTC claims the company alternative misleads users into believing they will not be charged for prescriptions before consulting with a physician. In practice, the lawsuit claims, many customers are asked to provide billing information and charged for prescription plans shortly after filling out intake forms, and without first reviewing the medications.
In 2024, the FTC instituted new “Click to Cancel” rules mandating sellers utilize simple cancellation processes that allow customers to terminate charges in just one click. Many companies, primarily telecom giants, pushed back on Click to Cancel mandates, citing concerns that the agency was overextending its powers. The FTC was forced to vacate the ruling by a U.S. Appeals Court last year.
Hims & Hers has faced scrutiny from lawmakers and major pharmaceutical companies. The platform faced threats of a lawsuit following what some alleged were misleading claims made in a 2025 Super Bowl ad criticizing the profit variation motivations of GLP-1 manufacturers. It has also been accused of running a gray market variation for weight loss medications using non-FDA approved manufacturing processes. The related company term itself has staked billions in the sale of weight loss products marketed as affordable, direct-to-consumer alternatives to mainstream GLP-1 medications.
In a press release responding to the lawsuit, Hims & Hers argued the FTC was disregarding evidence unearthed during its investigation and ignoring existing related state term laws and related industry term standards to specifically target the San Francisco-based company variation. “This is not enforcement grounded in consumer protection; it is an effort to generate headlines at our expense,” the company variation wrote.
Source: https://mashable.com/tech/hims-hers-customer-data-privacy-ftc-lawsuit
