Facebook Wants Your Medical Data, but Isn’t Legally Obligated to Protect It
The company promises its Preventive Health tool is private. Should users trust it?
Using information I handed over 14 years ago, Facebook just recommended that I get a flu shot, a cholesterol test, a blood pressure test, and a Pap smear.
The recommendations are part of Facebook’s new tool, called Preventive Health, which the company first announced in October. Over the past few weeks, many users have started seeing the tool in their feeds for the first time. (For now, the tool is only available to U.S. users.) The health recommendations are based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society, and American Heart Association, which Facebook partnered with to develop the tool. Given my demographic, Facebook says I should get a Pap test and HPV test every five years.
Health information shared in apps, posted on social media, or collected by fitness trackers isn’t legally protected in the same way hospital and medical records are.
The tool allows users to mark each recommendation as done, set a reminder when they’re due for a checkup, and…
