Penalty Amount
$1,500,000
Consumers Affected
55,000,000
The FTC settled with GoodRx for sharing consumers' sensitive prescription and health information with Facebook, Google, and other third parties for advertising without consent, and for failing to report these unauthorized disclosures as required by the Health Breach Notification Rule. GoodRx will pay a $1.5 million civil penalty and is permanently barred from sharing user health data for advertising.
GoodRx must pay a $1.5 million penalty. It is permanently prohibited from sharing user health information with third parties for advertising. For any other sharing, it must obtain users' affirmative express consent. The company must direct third parties to delete the shared health data, inform consumers about the breaches, implement a comprehensive privacy program, limit data retention, and publicly post its data retention schedule.
In-house legal teams should review all agreements involving the handling of consumer health data, including vendor contracts with advertising platforms (e.g., Facebook, Google), customer terms of service, and data processing agreements. Specific clauses to scrutinize are those governing data sharing, consent mechanisms for advertising, breach notification procedures, and restrictions on the use of sensitive health information. Changes may be required to explicitly prohibit sharing user health data for advertising without prior opt-in consent, mandate prompt breach reporting under the Health Breach Notification Rule, and ensure all third-party data transfers comply with health privacy regulations.
Entity
GoodRx Holdings Inc.
Also known as: GoodRx
Industry
HealthcareOfficial Press Release
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/02/ftc-enforcement-action-bar-goodrx-sharing-consumers-sensitive-health-info-advertising
goodrx complaint for permanent injunction civil penalties an
/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/goodrx_complaint_for_permanent_injunction_civil_penalties_and_other_relief.pdf
goodrx stipulated order for permanent injunction civil penal
/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/goodrx_stipulated_order_for_permanent_injunction_civil_penalty_judgment_and_other_relief.pdf
Federal Trade Commission Enforcement Page
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement
"GoodRx Holdings Inc."
"pay a $1.5 million civil penalty"
"sharing sensitive personal health information—including its users’ prescription medications and personal health conditions—with third party advertising companies and advertising platforms like Facebook, Google, and Criteo"
"failed to notify consumers, the FTC, and the media about the company’s unauthorized disclosure of individually identifiable health information"
"prohibits the company from using manipulative designs, known as dark patterns, to obtain users’ consent"
"violating the Health Breach Notification Rule"
The FTC rescinded its 2021 Policy Statement on Breaches by Health Apps and Other Connected Devices, which had purported to apply the Health Breach Notification Rule to health apps and connected devices that collect consumer health information. The rescission follows the Commission's 2024 update to the Health Breach Notification Rule, which already covers health apps and connected devices like fitness trackers, and implements an executive order directing agencies to eliminate obsolete guidance documents. No company was charged or penalized; this is a deregulatory action.
$12.0M
The FTC alleged that payment processor Humboldt Merchant Services knowingly processed payments for more than 1,000 shell merchant entities serving as fronts for fraudulent companies engaged in unauthorized billing scams, despite red flags including chargeback rates nearly 10 times higher than card-brand thresholds. Under the proposed stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Humboldt will pay $12 million for consumer redress and is permanently banned from processing payments for merchants with a heightened risk of potential fraud.
$4.8M
The FTC charged Canada-based payment processor Nuvei Corporation and its subsidiaries with knowingly processing payments for fraudulent merchants, including more than $30 million in payments for the Reimage tech support scam from 2017 to 2023, as well as merchants making false earnings claims and impersonating government tax authorities. Under the stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Nuvei will pay $4.85 million for consumer redress, is banned from serving tech support telemarketers, and must implement robust merchant screening and chargeback monitoring practices. Note: this is a payments-fraud facilitation action under the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule, not a data privacy violation.
The FTC announced a seven-day extension of the public comment period on its proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing, pushing the deadline from Sept. 18, 2026 to Sept. 25, 2026. Personalized pricing refers to using personal data to set prices based on what the company believes an individual consumer is willing to spend. This is a procedural announcement about draft agency guidance, not an enforcement action against any company, and no entity was named, no violation found, and no penalty imposed.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined the FTC and 22 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Amazon for manipulating the auctions used to set advertising prices, replacing actual auction results with higher prices since 2019 and overcharging nearly 1.2 million U.S. advertising customers. The FTC estimates total improper surcharges from 2018 to 2026 exceed $20 billion, with costs ultimately passed to shoppers through higher prices. The states seek a permanent injunction and monetary relief; no penalty has been imposed yet as this is a newly filed complaint.
$930K
The FTC finalized orders requiring CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group), MindSift LLC, and 1010 Digital Works LLC to pay a total of $930,000 for falsely claiming they offered an AI-powered service that could target ads based on conversations captured from consumers' smart devices, and that consumers had opted into such targeting. The orders also prohibit the companies from making misrepresentations about their advertising services, voice data collection, and consumer consent.