Healthline: Difference between revisions

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{{CompanyCargo

|Founded=1999

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=== Violating California's CCPA (2025.07.01) ===

On 01 July 2025, the California Attorney General announced in a press release that they have reached a settlement with Healthline over the company's violation of the {{Wplink|California Consumer Privacy Act}} (CCPA). In an investigation conducted by the California DOJ, Healthline violated the CCPA by failing to provide consumers with the option to opt-out of targeted advertising and sharing user data to third parties without implementing "CCPA-mandated privacy protections". This shared data also included suggesting that a person may suffer from a serious health condition. The settlement resulted in $1.55 million in civil pentalties and banning the company from revealing that a consumer may have already been diagnosed with a medical condition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-01 |title=Attorney General Bonta Announces Largest CCPA Settlement to Date, Secures $1.55 Million from Healthline.com |url=https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-01-25 |website=State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General}}</ref>

On 01 July 2025, the California Attorney General announced in a press release that they have reached a settlement with Healthline over the company's violation of the {{Wplink|California Consumer Privacy Act}} (CCPA). In an investigation conducted by the California DOJ, Healthline violated the CCPA by failing to provide consumers with the option to opt-out of targeted advertising and sharing user data to third parties without implementing "CCPA-mandated privacy protections". This shared data also included suggesting that a person may suffer from a serious health condition. The settlement resulted in $1.55 million in civil pentalties and banning the company from revealing that a consumer may have already been diagnosed with a medical condition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-01 |title=Attorney General Bonta Announces Largest CCPA Settlement to Date, Secures $1.55 Million from Healthline.com |url=https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-01-25 |website=State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260220183155/https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155 |archive-date=20 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Usage of AI generation===

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===Rejecting cookies restricts site access===

Like many websites, Healthline asks for cookies upon accessing the site. Upon clicking on "Reject All", the user is taken to a "Anon" page which includes only 10 articles. On the same page they expain their reasoning:<blockquote>We believe that health information should be free to everyone and we rely on advertising to make this possible on our family of websites Healthline, Medical News Today, Greatist, and Psych Central. Providing the best health information in the world is expensive. We spend up to thousands of dollars per article to ensure it is accurate and precise with quality review by a doctor or other certified, trained medical professional.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Healthline |url=https://anon.healthline.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106172359/https://anon.healthline.com/ |archive-date=2026-01-06 |access-date=2026-01-06 |website=Healthline}}</ref> </blockquote>

Like many websites, Healthline asks for [[Web cookie|cookies]] upon accessing the site. Upon clicking on "Reject All", the user is taken to a "Anon" page which includes only 10 articles. On the same page they expain their reasoning:<blockquote>We believe that health information should be free to everyone and we rely on advertising to make this possible on our family of websites Healthline, Medical News Today, Greatist, and Psych Central. Providing the best health information in the world is expensive. We spend up to thousands of dollars per article to ensure it is accurate and precise with quality review by a doctor or other certified, trained medical professional.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Healthline |url=https://anon.healthline.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106172359/https://anon.healthline.com/ |archive-date=2026-01-06 |access-date=2026-01-06 |website=Healthline}}</ref> </blockquote>

===Publishing misinformation===<!--somebody with medical knowledge please fill this up

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-{{Irrelevant}}
 {{CompanyCargo
 |Founded=1999
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 === Violating California's CCPA (2025.07.01) ===
-On 01 July 2025, the California Attorney General announced in a press release that they have reached a settlement with Healthline over the company's violation of the {{Wplink|California Consumer Privacy Act}} (CCPA). In an investigation conducted by the California DOJ, Healthline violated the CCPA by failing to provide consumers with the option to opt-out of targeted advertising and sharing user data to third parties without implementing "CCPA-mandated privacy protections". This shared data also included suggesting that a person may suffer from a serious health condition. The settlement resulted in $1.55 million in civil pentalties and banning the company from revealing that a consumer may have already been diagnosed with a medical condition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-01 |title=Attorney General Bonta Announces Largest CCPA Settlement to Date, Secures $1.55 Million from Healthline.com |url=https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-01-25 |website=State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General}}</ref>
+On 01 July 2025, the California Attorney General announced in a press release that they have reached a settlement with Healthline over the company's violation of the {{Wplink|California Consumer Privacy Act}} (CCPA). In an investigation conducted by the California DOJ, Healthline violated the CCPA by failing to provide consumers with the option to opt-out of targeted advertising and sharing user data to third parties without implementing "CCPA-mandated privacy protections". This shared data also included suggesting that a person may suffer from a serious health condition. The settlement resulted in $1.55 million in civil pentalties and banning the company from revealing that a consumer may have already been diagnosed with a medical condition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-01 |title=Attorney General Bonta Announces Largest CCPA Settlement to Date, Secures $1.55 Million from Healthline.com |url=https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-01-25 |website=State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260220183155/https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-largest-ccpa-settlement-date-secures-155 |archive-date=20 Feb 2026}}</ref>
 ===Usage of AI generation===
@@ Line 24: / Line 23: @@
 ===Rejecting cookies restricts site access===
-Like many websites, Healthline asks for cookies upon accessing the site. Upon clicking on "Reject All", the user is taken to a "Anon" page which includes only 10 articles. On the same page they expain their reasoning:<blockquote>We believe that health information should be free to everyone and we rely on advertising to make this possible on our family of websites Healthline, Medical News Today, Greatist, and Psych Central. Providing the best health information in the world is expensive. We spend up to thousands of dollars per article to ensure it is accurate and precise with quality review by a doctor or other certified, trained medical professional.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Healthline |url=https://anon.healthline.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106172359/https://anon.healthline.com/ |archive-date=2026-01-06 |access-date=2026-01-06 |website=Healthline}}</ref> </blockquote>
+Like many websites, Healthline asks for [[Web cookie|cookies]] upon accessing the site. Upon clicking on "Reject All", the user is taken to a "Anon" page which includes only 10 articles. On the same page they expain their reasoning:<blockquote>We believe that health information should be free to everyone and we rely on advertising to make this possible on our family of websites Healthline, Medical News Today, Greatist, and Psych Central. Providing the best health information in the world is expensive. We spend up to thousands of dollars per article to ensure it is accurate and precise with quality review by a doctor or other certified, trained medical professional.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Healthline |url=https://anon.healthline.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106172359/https://anon.healthline.com/ |archive-date=2026-01-06 |access-date=2026-01-06 |website=Healthline}}</ref> </blockquote>
 ===Publishing misinformation===<!--somebody with medical knowledge please fill this up