4 More States Caught Sharing Personal Health Data With Big Tech | KQED

Colin Lecher and Tomas Apodaca, CalMatters Jun 21 Failed to save article Please try again  (Illustration by Gabriel Hongsdusit/CalMatters) Massachusetts Health Connector, another exchange, told LinkedIn whether visitors said they were pregnant, blind, or disabled. After being contacted by The Markup and CalMatters, Nevada’s health exchange stopped sending visitors’ data to Snapchat and Massachusetts stopped sending data to LinkedIn. Additionally, The Markup and CalMatters found that Nevada stopped sending data to LinkedIn in early May, as we were testing. The Markup and CalMatters discovered the sharing after finding that California’s exchange, Covered California, told LinkedIn when a visitor indicated they were blind, pregnant, or a victim of domestic violence. Experts said state health exchanges’ use of advertising trackers was troubling if not entirely surprising. Such tools can help organizations to reach visitors and tailor ads for them. Google Analytics allows website operators to better understand who is coming to their site and to optimize ad campaigns. The LinkedIn and Snap trackers, like a similar offering from Meta, help companies target their social media ads. Nevada uses the trackers to help target marketing at uninsured residents, according to Russell Cook, Executive Director of the state agency that operates Nevada’s exchange, Silver
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