Meta Watch: Your Health Data, Their Profit?

Meta is reportedly revisiting its smartwatch ambitions, with a potential release slated for this year. This move follows the company's success with smart glasses and a neural band that reads muscle activity. However, the prospect of a Meta-branded smartwatch is met with considerable apprehension regarding user privacy.

Meta has a documented history of aggressive data collection. In 2019, a period tracking app was found to be sharing sensitive user data, including menstrual cycle information, with Meta. Although depersonalized, a unique advertising ID allowed for user account linking, enabling targeted advertising based on fertility data.

Further controversy arose in 2022 with the revelation that Meta Pixel, a website tracking tool, was sending patient data from hospital websites to Meta. This included highly sensitive medical details such as prescribed medications and diagnoses, raising concerns about widespread data exposure.

Critics argue that a smartwatch would allow Meta to bypass indirect data collection methods and directly access intimate health and location information from users. Given Meta's past actions, there are significant doubts about its ability to be trusted with such sensitive data, prompting calls for strong privacy assurances like on-device processing and end-to-end encryption.