California jury rules Meta violated privacy law in case involving period-tracking app

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Andrew Harnik | Getty ImagesA California jury ruled against Meta in a privacy-related lawsuit involving the alleged collection of sensitive data from Flo, a period-tracking app.The jury ruled that the plaintiffs ved that Meta violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act, according to a verdict form filed Friday in the U.S

District Court for Northern District of California.The ruling stems from a class-action lawsuit dating back to 2021 against the health- company Flo Health and other es Meta, Google-parent Alphabet and smaller data analytics firms.Flo Health told users that "their sensitive reductive health information" and survey questions would not be disclosed, but that personal data up being d with companies Meta and Google via their respective online ad-related tools known as software-development kits, according to a separate court filing.Google and one of the analytics firms agreed to settle their claims prior to a jury trial that began in July, while Flo Health settled the day before the trial's conclusion on Aug 1

Meta chose to take the case to court and lost

The social media company is expected to appeal the verdict. "This verdict sends a message the tection of digital health data and the responsibilities of Big ," said lead trial lawyers Michael Canty and Carol Villegas of Labaton Keller Sucharow in a d statement. "Companies Meta that covertly fit from users' most intimate information must be held accountable."A Meta spokesperson said the company disagreed with the ruling."The plaintiffs' claims against Meta are simply false," the Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "User privacy is important to Meta, which is why we do not want health or other sensitive information and why our terms hibit developers from sending any."WATCH: Jim Cramer on the big earnings.watch now3:0103:01I wanted the to be defined by huge earnings reports from Microsoft and Meta, says Jim CramerMad Money with Jim Cramer