Users delete fertility app Flo over data sharing controversy

Users around the world started uninstalling the period-tracking application, Flo, after the Federal Trade Commission announced on Wednesday that it filed a complaint against the company for sharing users’ data with third-party companies including Google and Facebook, according to a report by The Washington Post.

Flo, which is a women’s health app that tracks menstruation, cycle prediction, preparation for conception, pregnancy, early motherhood and menopause, has allegedly breached its privacy policy and leaked millions of users’ data about their menstruation, fertility and pregnancies with the analytics and marketing teams of top firms.

Kat Grilli, a user of Flo for a year, has now deleted it as the news comes as a proof of how far companies will go to capitalise off people’s trust.

Also read: WhatsApp wants people to ‘gradually review the policy’, pushes deadline

“There’s this attitude that periods are disgusting and shameful, yet there’s also this attitude that that information can be sold, used and profited from,” Grilli, 33, told The Lily. 

 “I find that really gross, and am very resentful that I was [possibly] part of it without my knowledge or consent,” she added.

A Flo spokesperson has not responded to a request for comment.

Flo was founded by a pair of Belarusian men, Dmitry and Yuri Gurski, in 2015, and claims to have 150 million users. 

Between 2017 and 2019, the app’s privacy policies said that it would not share users’ “information regarding your marked cycles, pregnancy, symptoms, notes and other information that is entered by you and that you do not elect to share” with third parties, according to the federal complaint. However, it already began sharing the data in 2016. In 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported on the practice.

Also read: Open to answering any queries from govt on privacy policy update: WhatsApp

With the complaint, FTC also announced a proposed settlement with Flo, which would require the company to notify affected users about the disclosures of their data; instruct the third parties that received the data to destroy it; obtain users’ consent before sharing their health data in the future; and undergo an independent review of its privacy practices by experts approved by the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, among other measures.

By agreeing to the proposed settlement, Flo did not admit to or deny any of the allegations contained in the complaint.

Although, FTC has said that as it does not carry the authority to obtain damages for the breach. This basically means that even after sharing private information of its users, Flo is not likely to be hit with any fines.