Doctoralia Exposes Patients' Medical Appointments to Social Media Giants
Doctoralia, a healthcare appointment site serving millions in Latin America and Europe, has been sending sensitive information about patients' medical appointments to social media companies including TikTok, Google, and LinkedIn. According to a review of Doctoralia's websites by The Markup and Agência Pública, an investigative journalism nonprofit in Brazil, the company is tracking visitors from nearly the second they start searching for healthcare services. This data includes the specialties and names of doctors, as well as appointment dates and times.
The review found that this information was shared with social media companies through embedded online trackers. In Brazil, searches for specialists were sent to Google through its marketing platform, while in Colombia and Mexico, similar data was shared with LinkedIn and TikTok. The Brazilian government's National Supplementary Health Agency noted that booking an appointment can reveal aspects of a person's health.
Experts say this sharing of information violates patients' privacy expectations and may be illegal under Brazilian law. Doctoralia has promised to conduct a detailed review of its online practices, but social media companies have previously been caught transmitting sensitive data despite their policies against it.