TikTok and parent company ByteDance have agreed to
resolve a class-action privacy complaint alleging that they wrongly gathered sensitive health data from the bankrupt Pill Club -- a telemedicine company and direct-to-consumer pharmacy.
The company and plaintiffs are still drafting the formal agreement, according to papers filed late last week with U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick in the Northern District of
California. Terms have not yet been disclosed.
The potential deal comes in a lawsuit dating to January 2023, when a web user proceeding anonymously brought a privacy lawsuit
against the Pill Club (then known as Hey Favor) and tech companies, including Meta and TikTok. The complaint was filed soon after The Markup reported that telemedicine sites
were "leaking" patients' sensitive medical information to ad platforms.
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The Pill Club -- which changed its name to Favor in 2022, then changed it back to Pill Club in 2023
-- filed for bankruptcy in April 2023, after which the plaintiff dropped the telehealth company from the lawsuit.
An amended complaint brought last year alleged that the
telemedicine company's platform embedded tracking technology from tech companies including Meta and TikTok, which were then able to intercept users' sensitive medical information -- including data
relating to birth control and pregnancy.
Before agreeing to settle, TikTok indicated in court papers that it planned to argue that users consented to the alleged data
collection -- either by agreeing to TikTok's or the telehealth company's policies, or by using the platforms.
The social platform also contended that Hey Favor/Pill Club "chose
how to configure" tools provided by TikTok, adding that TikTok's contracts required the telemedicine business "to obtain all consent required by law and to otherwise ensure the tools have been
configured according to law."
On Monday, Orrick halted proceedings between the plaintiffs and TikTok, and directed counsel to provide him with a status report by November
26.