Judge rejects Meta attempt to overturn Flo privacy verdict

A California federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by Meta to overturn a jury verdict finding the tech giant liable for using a period tracking tool to illegally obtain sensitive reproductive health data from millions of women.

In refusing to overturn the decision or greenlight a new trial, U.S. District Judge James Donato shot down Meta’s claim that recordings of women’s data obtained from the period tracking app Flo were "secondhand" and are therefore not covered by the California wiretapping law which Meta is accused of violating.

Evidence the plaintiffs introduced "amply supported the conclusion that Meta was directly acquiring the content of the user's communications with the Flo App in real time,” Donato said in his order. 

"The evidence at trial established that there was 'one communication' and one 'exchange of information' here, such as a user checking a box to communicate that she wanted to track her cycle or get pregnant." 

The order was unusually harshly worded, with Donato calling Meta’s attempt to nullify the verdict “improper.”

The ruling came down to whether Flo users gave Meta consent to collect their data through a software development kit embedded in the Flo app. 

Meta’s contention that it obtained women' s consent to obtain the data is “rank speculation that is completely untethered to the evidence admitted at trial,” Donato wrote.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The jury’s August finding that Meta violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act is widely considered to be one of the first significant verdicts involving how big tech treats sensitive health data. Experts have said it could lead to a wave of new litigation and calls into question the legality of many of big tech’s data collection practices.