On July 1, 2025, the California Attorney General’s (AG) Office announced a record-setting $1.55 million settlement with Healthline Media, a prominent provider of health and wellness information and operator of Healthline.com – reportedly one of the 40 most visited websites globally. The enforcement action centered on violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), marking the first major privacy enforcement in the healthcare space to focus on the law’s purpose-limitation requirement.

According to the AG’s allegations, Healthline unlawfully shared consumers’ personal information, including sensitive data related to medical conditions, with third parties via tracking technologies such as cookies and pixels. The AG alleged multiple violations of the CCPA, including:

• Failing to restrict the use of personal information to the purposes for which it was originally collected;
• Allowing third-party data sharing and targeted advertising without obtaining valid consumer consent;
• Implementing deceptive and non-functional opt-out mechanisms;
• Failing to maintain CCPA-compliant contracts with third parties such as advertisers.

Under the terms of the settlement, Healthline agreed to pay $1.55 million in civil penalties and committed to a series of corrective measures, including:

• Ensuring all opt-out mechanisms function as required under the CCPA;
• Ceasing unauthorized disclosure of information that could reveal consumers’ medical conditions;
• Updating its privacy policy...

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