In Google's most recent closed press briefing, in which Google's top brass revealed the new Fitbit Edge fitness tracker to a video call full of international journalists, it also revealed Google was entering into a "multi-year partnership" with an app called Flo.
Flo is a women's health app that can track your period, ovulation windows, and pregnancy stages, and it's widely used across the world.
Google said the new partnership was going to involve creating "personalized experiences for women". This includes building new products, and incorporating Flo into the AI-forward Google Health app.
Google says it's "working hard to sync Google Health with Flo for deeper insights", using trackers such as the Fitbit Air to collect data and Google Health to organize and surface that data, possibly with the AI chatbot Google Health Coach premium service.
During the presentation, Google stated that "Flo has spent more than a decade earning the trust of women". But a high-profile lawsuit against Google and Flo — and Google’s fellow big tech giant Meta — ended with Google and Flo paying a settlement of $56 million.
What happened?
In a consolidated lawsuit against defendants Flo, Google and Meta, representatives of Flo app users between 2016 and 2019 alleged that sensitive period tracking information was shared by Flo to Google and Meta without their knowledge or consent, through Flo's in-app software development kits.
According to Reuters, Google and Flo chose to settle out of court to the tune of $56 million combined, with an addition $3.5 million from a now-defunct mobile company Flurry.
Meta, which chose not to settle, was found liable for having 'violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act' according to court documents, and its attempts to overturn the motions were denied.
Google's new stance
It's big tech's MO to collect an enormous amount of information from across the web, but sometimes we don't quite realize the extent or personal nature of the information these companies collect.
I asked Google the following:
"The announcement of the multi-year partnership between Google Health and Flo comes after the high-profile $56 million class-action settlement by Flo and Google. Meta chose not to settle, and was found liable. Given the nature of the case, what additional privacy assurances can Google make to ensure the health data of Flo users remains safe?"
Google responded, stating that "Google Health Coach onboarding incorporates explicit consent informing users that shared third-party app data is utilized specifically to deliver personalized coaching."
Google also added that "Google Health Coach algorithms are designed not to log or store sensitive women’s health-related events and ongoing monitoring ensures AI responses remain aligned with sensitive communication standards."
Google also reiterated in the press briefing I attended that it will not use Google Health information for Google Ads. Google's blog post on the subject also says that 'no data will move between the apps without your explicit permission — given separately for each type of data and each purpose — and you have the control to withdraw permission at any time. Flo data shared with Google Health will never be used for advertising, never be sold, and will not be made available to other apps or developers through Google's health platforms.'
What this means for your data
Google says its algorithms aren't logging or storing anything, and therefore Google's AI isn't being trained on your sensitive health data. The lack of usage for Google Ads means Google says it won't use information from Flo to personalize and tailor ads to your interest and profile. Your data won't be sold or moved between parties without consent. All of this is good.
However, Google and Flo's controversial partnership history may mean that some users are put off from using the platforms' women's health tracking features. As Flo users found out prior to the lawsuit, data processing can be an opaque process.
As users, we can withdraw consent if we're concerned about the treatment of our data. You can view which third parties have access to your health information through your Google account by visiting Google's Privacy Checkup page, and you can also use this page to remove any third parties' access to your data.