Protecting people’s privacy on health topics

The privacy and security of our users is one of the most important parts of the work done by the company. Designed to help people keep their personal information private, safe and secure, our products have easy-to-use tools and built in protections.

Privacy is important to people when it comes to their health. Privacy protections can't be limited to individual companies or states, as they apply to healthcare providers, banks, tech platforms, and many more. We're pleased to see recent progress in Congress, and we've long advocated for a comprehensive U.S. privacy law that protects everyone.

We didn't wait for a law to act. People rely on the internet to keep their information safe. We are sharing more steps we are taking to protect user privacy around health issues.

A number of restrictions are included in our data policies, which is why this is important to people. We have protection around.

For those that turn on location history, we provide simple controls like auto-delete so users can easily remove parts from their data at any time. Counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, and others are some of the places people visit. If our systems detect that someone has visited one of these places, we will remove these entries from location history. The change will take effect in the near future.

Policies that prohibit developers from selling personal and sensitive user data and a requirement that they handle that data securely and only for purposes related to operating the app are included in the strict protocols for user data on apps. Play has a new data safety section that developers use to give people more information about how they collect, share, and secure their data. We give users settings and tools to be able to easily access and control their personal data, including the option to change and deletion of personal information. We will be updating the app to allow users to remove multiple menstruation logs at the same time.

Law enforcement demands for user data have a long history of being pushed back on. When we comply with government demands, we notify people if we are prohibited from doing so or if lives are at stake, because we take into account the privacy and security expectations of people using our products. We were the first major company to give the number and types of government demands we received in a transparency report. We are committed to protecting our users against improper government demands for data, and we will continue to oppose demands that are overly broad. The NDO Fairness Act was recently passed by the House of Representatives and will continue to be supported by us.

We will look for new ways to strengthen and improve the privacy protections for people who use our products. Congressional efforts to reach bipartisan agreement on privacy protections that move the burden of privacy off individuals and establish good data practices are supported by us. We will continue to protect the privacy of our users around the world while we wait.