FILE PHOTO - A BC class action lawsuit will move ahead as women claim a menstruation tracking app gave their information to other companies. The period and ovulation tracker Flo sent user data to companies like Facebook and Google, which was used to show ads on other platforms, according to a BC Supreme Court decision.

Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK

A BC class action lawsuit will move ahead as women claim a menstruation tracking app gave their information to other companies.

The period and ovulation tracker Flo sent user data to companies like Facebook and Google, which was used to show ads on other platforms, according to a March 7 BC Supreme Court decision.

The recent decision certifies a class action lawsuit against Flo Health Inc. in BC, citing legal proceedings in other jurisdictions both in Canada and the U.S. along with a Wall Street Journal investigation that uncovered the privacy violations five years ago.

It's not the first class action against the company over its decision to sell users' health data, and the company pointed to that fact as one reason for the BC Supreme Court to dismiss the case.

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The court ruled that all Canadian residents who used the app between June 1, 2016, and Feb. 23, 2019, are members of the class action.

The company could face damages at the end of a trial and it's on the hook to pay out those users.

Quebec users are exempted from the case. In that province, another class action has already been certified.

Flo estimates there were more than one million Canadian users on the app during the class action period.

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In 2019, the company told Wall Street Journal reporters investigating the app's practices that they "depersonalized" user data before it was given to Facebook, according to the decision.

It initially denied any sensitive and identifying data was given to third-parties, but Flo data was later found to inform customized ads on platforms like Facebook and Google.

The company reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission in 2021.

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