Social Media: The Health Feed

Context

Your platform receives sensitive health data from third-party apps without user consent, via integrated analytics tools. Investigations reveal a severe breach, raising concerns about user trust, legal compliance, and ethical data use.

Dilemma

A) Initiate a public, comprehensive audit of all third-party data collection, immediately ceasing sensitive health data ingestion, and proactively engaging regulators, accepting significant penalties and re-architecture.

B) Prioritize immediate legal defense and public relations efforts, focusing on shifting blame to third-party app developers.

Summary

Several apps, including health trackers, are sending sensitive user data like heart rates and pregnancy status to Facebook without consent. Facebook's "App Events" tool enables this, despite terms prohibiting such sharing. Users are outraged, citing dishonesty and privacy violations. Flo Health, an app involved, claims data is for internal analytics, but will audit its tools. This adds to Facebook's privacy scrutiny, following Cambridge Analytica and calls for stricter regulations.

Resources:

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-reportedly-received-sensitive-health-data-from-apps-without-consent/