Talkspace Lawsuit Claims Therapy Website Secretly Shares User Data with TikTok

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges therapy platform Talkspace has secretly installed on its website software created by TikTok for the purpose of digitally “fingerprinting” users.

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The 10-page Talkspace lawsuit says the TikTok software installed on Talkspace.com collects as much data as it can about otherwise anonymous visitors and then matches the information with existing data TikTok has in possession on hundreds of millions of Americans. The data allegedly vacuumed up by TikTok through Talkspace without user consent includes device and browser details, geographic information, referral tracking, URLs, and medical information, including for minors, the case states. The case calls TikTok’s alleged data collection practices “particularly troubling” given the platform’s ties to China.

According to the suit, Talkspace immediately sends information to TikTok as soon as a user enters Talkspace.com and every time they click on a page.

“The TikTok Software begins to collect information the moment a user lands on the Website,” the suit adds. “Thus, even though the Website has a ‘cookie banner’ the information has already been sent to TikTok regarding the user’s visit.”

Further, when a user is prompted to input their name, date of birth and address into Talkspace.com, that information is simultaneously sent to TikTok so the company can “isolate with certainty the individual to be targeted,” the complaint claims.

According to the proposed privacy class action, TikTok’s data collection practices on Talkspace violate a California privacy law against the use of “trap and trace devices,” which include any device or process that captures incoming electronic impulses that are reasonably likely to identify the source of a wire or electronic communication. From the complaint:

“The TikTok Software is a process to identify the source of electronic communication by capturing incoming electronic impulses and identifying dialing, routing, addressing, and signaling information generated by users, who are never informed that the website is collaborating with the Chinese government to obtain their phone number and other identifying information.”

The Talkspace lawsuit looks to cover all individuals in California who had Talkspace chats transcribed by third parties or whose identifying information was sent to TikTok within the applicable statute of limitations period.

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