A federal jury has found Meta liable for violating California’s wiretap law and invasion of privacy by collecting data from a period-tracker app without user consent. The plaintiffs in a class-action case proved that Meta intentionally eavesdropped on and recorded conversations using an electronic device, and that users had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 against Flo Health, the maker of the period-tracking app. Google and Meta were added as defendants later. However, the plaintiffs settled with Flo Health, Google, and Flurry before the trial, leaving Meta as the only remaining defendant.
According to court documents, Flo app users were required to complete an onboarding survey that shared personal information with Google and Meta via custom app events sent through their software development kits (SDKs). The companies used this data for various purposes, including advertising and marketing. Meta specifically used the data to power its machine learning algorithms for advertising.
The jury’s verdict is a significant win for users who had no control over how their personal data was being shared with third parties, including Meta. This ruling highlights the importance of user consent and data protection in the digital age.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/jury-finds-meta-broke-wiretap-law-by-collecting-data-from-period-tracker-app