Talkspace's actions have drawn scrutiny, especially as New York City has sued social media companies for contributing to a mental health crisis among teens. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has warned against using tracking pixels on healthcare websites, and the Federal Trade Commission has fined other telehealth providers for similar practices. Talkspace is also facing class action lawsuits over privacy violations. Despite these controversies, Talkspace's CEO has highlighted the company's focus on the teen market, revealing plans for a generative AI tool that creates personalized podcasts from patient data, though the company claims no teen data was used in its development.
Key takeaways:
- A telehealth company, Talkspace, was found to be leaking data from its NYC Teenspace website to social media companies, which the city is suing for harming teen mental health.
- Talkspace removed tracking pixels from the NYC Teenspace website after privacy concerns were raised, but similar pages for Seattle and Baltimore still had trackers until contacted by Gizmodo.
- Talkspace's use of tracking pixels has raised legal and ethical concerns, as it may violate privacy laws and the company's contract with New York City.
- Talkspace is developing a generative AI tool that uses extensive mental health data to create personalized podcasts, but claims no data from teen programs was used in its development.