FTC, California and Utah Sue Hims & Hers Over Alleged Data Sharing and Deceptive Subscription Practices

The Federal Trade Commission, joined by California and Utah, sued telehealth company Hims & Hers Health on Tuesday, alleging the company shared consumers’ sensitive health information with advertising platforms including Meta and Snap and used deceptive subscription billing and cancellation practices that trapped people in recurring prescription charges. The civil complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and seeks a permanent injunction, monetary relief, civil penalties and other relief.

The lawsuit centers on two parts of Hims’ business: how it handled private health data and how it signed people up for and kept them in prescription subscriptions. The FTC, California and Utah alleged in the complaint that Hims misled consumers about privacy protections while sending health-related information to third-party ad platforms, and that it enrolled consumers in recurring billing without clear disclosures and made cancellation difficult. The allegations have not been proven in court.

According to the complaint, Hims enrolled “hundreds of thousands” of consumers in recurring prescription subscriptions almost immediately after they completed online intake forms. Regulators alleged consumers were prompted to provide billing information during intake while being led to believe they would first consult with a medical provider about whether treatment was appropriate. The complaint says many consumers were billed before they had a meaningful chance to review or approve a provider’s treatment recommendation, and that Hims did not clearly and conspicuously disclose refill timing, making it harder to cancel before the next charge.

The complaint also targets Hims’ cancellation process. Before 2023, regulators alleged, most consumers could cancel only by contacting customer service by phone, email or chat. After the company added an online cancellation option in 2023, the FTC said it placed that option behind multiple steps, including a path labeled “add/remove items from order,” rather than providing a straightforward way to end recurring charges.

On privacy, the complaint alleges Hims told consumers its services protected their personal information while sharing sensitive health data with advertising platforms. Regulators said the company did this in two main ways: by uploading customer lists to ad platforms and by using third-party tracking tools on its websites that transmitted users’ actions to those platforms. The complaint specifically references Meta and Snap, as well as Meta Pixel and Meta Conversions API, and says the data sharing involved health-related website activity.

“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. The complaint also cites a consumer who wrote: “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! I never gave consent to apply charges before I spoke with a healthcare professional.”

The FTC said the commission voted 2-0 to authorize the complaint, which alleges violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, a federal law governing online negative-option and recurring billing offers. California also alleges violations of its false advertising and unfair competition laws, while Utah alleges violations of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act.

Hims & Hers, based in San Francisco, is a public telehealth company that sells direct-to-consumer prescription treatments through online intake forms and subscription-based fulfillment. In securities filings, the company previously disclosed that the FTC issued a civil investigative demand in October 2023 tied to privacy, advertising and cancellation practices. In a Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, Hims said the FTC had communicated its findings in April and that settlement discussions were underway, and the company recorded a $15 million accrual related to the matter. No same-day public response from Hims was available in the materials reviewed. The FTC noted that a complaint means it has reason to believe the law was violated; the case will now be decided by a judge.