Popular San Francisco-based telehealth company Hims & Hers is being sued by federal regulators and California, who allege the company enrolled consumers in recurring prescription subscriptions without proper consent and shared sensitive health information with advertising platforms, including Meta and Snap, despite promising to protect users’ privacy
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by the Federal Trade Commission, Utah and California, alleges the company violated federal and state consumer protection laws through deceptive billing, cancellation and privacy practices. It seeks a permanent injunction, monetary relief and civil penalties
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“The FTC’s complaint lays out a troubling scenario—consumers unknowingly locked into recurring subscriptions and the disclosure to third parties of consumers’ most private health information without their consent,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement
Founded in 2017, Hims & Hers has grown into one of the country’s largest direct-to-consumer telehealth companies, offering popular treatments for hair loss, sexual health, mental health, skin care and weight loss.
The company has drawn national attention and scrutiny in recent years through its sale of compounded GLP-1 weight-loss medications. Earlier this year, it came to an agreement after being sued by drugmaker Novo Nordisk for selling the compounded drug. The suit was dropped after Hims & Hers agreed to sell Novo-branded drugs on its site and no longer sell compounded GLP-1 drugs.
According to the FTC, Hims & Hers tells consumers they can consult with a medical provider to determine what treatment is “‘right’ for them” and that they won’t be charged until a prescription is issued. But regulators allege that most consumers are automatically charged and enrolled in recurring subscriptions shortly after submitting an online intake form, often without an opportunity to discuss or approve a provider’s recommendation
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The complaint also alleges the San Francisco-headquartered company failed to clearly disclose when refill charges would occur, making it difficult for customers to cancel before being billed again. Regulators said the company further complicated cancellations by requiring consumers to navigate multiple pages before finding a cancellation option
The lawsuit cites consumer complaints alleging they were charged before speaking with a clinician or unexpectedly enrolled in subscription plans, such as: “I was told that I would be able to speak with a doctor in a few days and that nothing would be charged to my card that day. Him’s & Her’s [sic] charged me immediately!”
The FTC also alleges the telehealth company shared consumers’ sensitive health information with third-party advertising platforms, including Meta and Snap by transmitting customer lists and using website tracking technologies, despite advertising its services as “100% online, private, and secure” and assuring users that sensitive information would be accessed only by medical providers
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Hims & Hers disputed the allegations in a statement on Wednesday, saying the lawsuit disregarded “substantial evidence” the company provided throughout the FTC’s nearly three-year investigation
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“This is not enforcement grounded in consumer protection; it is an effort to generate headlines at our expense,” the company said. “We are confident in our position and will vigorously defend ourselves against these baseless claims.”
In another statement, the company said it has “continued to strengthen our processes and systems” over time and maintains safeguards designed to prevent protected health information from being used for marketing, including separating information shared with providers from marketing activities and using tools like abstraction and hashing to obscure identifiable information
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SFGATE reached out to Hims & Hers for further comment but did not get a response by time of publication
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