UK mental health charities handed sensitive data to Facebook for targeted ads

Some of Britain’s biggest charities providing support for people with mental health problems shared details of sensitive web browsing with Facebook for use in its targeted advertising system.The data was sent via a tracking tool embedded in the charities’ websites and included details of webpages a user visited and buttons they clicked across content linked to depression, self-harm and eating disorders.It also included details of when users requested support – such as clicking a link saying “I need help” – and when they viewed webpages to access online chat tools. Some of the pages that triggered data-sharing with Facebook were aimed specifically at children, including a page aimed at 11- to 18-year-olds offering advice on suicidal thoughts.The data sent to Facebook during the Observer’s analysis did not include details of conversations between charities and users or messages sent via chat tools. All the charities said such messages were confidential and stressed that they took service user privacy extremely seriously.However, it often related to browsing users would usually expect to be private – including details of button clicks and page views across websites for the mental health charities Mind, Shout and Rethink Mental Illness, and eating disorder charity Beat.The information was
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