BetterHelp
❗Article Status Notice: This Article is a stub
This article is underdeveloped, and needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues. Learn more ▼
Issues may include:
- This article needs to be expanded to provide meaningful information
- This article requires additional verifiable evidence to demonstrate systemic impact
- More documentation is needed to establish how this reflects broader consumer protection concerns
- The connection between individual incidents and company-wide practices needs to be better established
- The article is simply too short, and lacks sufficient content
How you can help:
- Add documented examples with verifiable sources
- Provide evidence of similar incidents affecting other consumers
- Include relevant company policies or communications that demonstrate systemic practices
- Link to credible reporting that covers these issues
- Flesh out the article with relevant information
This notice will be removed once the article is sufficiently developed. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, please visit the Moderator's noticeboard, or the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel, or mention its status on the article's talk page.
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Legal Structure | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Medical, Mental Health, Teletherapy |
| Also known as | |
| Official website | https://www.betterhelp.com/ |
BetterHelp is a mental health platform that provides direct online counseling and therapy services via web or phone text communication.
Consumer impact summary
- (User privacy) On 02 March 2023, it was revealed that BetterHelp had shared data and private info on users with third parties in order to dish out targeted/personalized ads to said users, despite claiming that they don't share data with other companies/advertisers.
- (Business model) BetterHelp prides themselves on their accessibility and scalability and operates using subscriptions in order to generate weekly revenue.
- (Market control) While users may pay around £40 - £70 a week, a counselor named Andrew Flynn, was being paid around £18 per session, meaning that he would have to work well over the 20 hour weekly limit to make a proper living.
Incidents
Private data sharing
BetterHelp's Privacy Policy[1] explicitly states that any private information shared with therapists will remain confidential. Specifically, it clarifies that such information will not be shared with third-party advertisers:
To be clear, we don’t share any data or information you share with your therapist with any Third-Party advertisers. Even if you opt-in to targeting cookies and web beacons, we still don’t share information with Third-Party advertisers like member names, email addresses, phone numbers, clinician diagnosis, questionnaires answers, sessions data, journal entries, messages, worksheets, or any other type of private communication you have with your therapist on the Platform.
On 02 March 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) raised a complaint[2] against BetterHelp. BetterHelp gave third parties (including Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Criteo) consumer information for the purpose of serving targeted ads "bringing in tens of thousands of new paying users, and millions of dollars in revenue, as a result."[3] Third parties also used the data for personal research and development.[3]
Four months later, on 14 July 2023, the FTC ordered BetterHelp to pay $7.8 million in the form of partial refunds to its' customers between 01 August 2017 and 31 December 2020.[4] Emails started being sent out to around 800,000 eligible customers on 06 May 2024.[5]
Unethical pay structure
Andrew Flynn, a counsellor who joined BetterHelp in September 2022, stated that in the United Kingdom, a BetterHelp subscription costs between £40 and £70 per week, while he was paid approximately £18 per session.[6] To achieve a reasonable annual salary, therapists would need to exceed the 20-hour weekly limit for therapy sessions recommended by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
70% of respondents in a survey had a negative experience with BetterHelp[7][8]
In the UK, therapists don't need accreditation to practice unlike in the U.S., nevertheless there are bodies which accredit therapists, BetterHelp therapists may not be accredited in UK.[9]
References
- ↑ Privacy Policy. (2018). Archive.org. "Privacy Policy - Section 11 - Are you using my data for advertising?" Retrieved 19 Dec 2025 (Archive)
- ↑ BetterHelp, Inc., In the Matter of. (2023, March 2). Federal Trade Commission. "BetterHelp, Inc., In the Matter of" Retrieved 19 Dec 2025 (Archive)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Khan, L., Slaughter, R., & Bedoya, A. (n.d.). "BetterHelp: Final Complaint - 2023169" Retrieved 19 Dec 2025 (Archive)
- ↑ Khan, L., Slaughter, R., & Bedoya, A. (n.d.). from "BetterHelp: Final Decision and Order - 2023169" Retrieved 19 Dec 2025 (Archive)
- ↑ (2024, May 6). Federal Trade Commission. ftc.gov. . "BetterHelp Customers Will Begin Receiving Notices About Refunds Related to a 2023 Privacy Settlement with FTC" Retrieved 19 Dec 2025 (Archive) (Archived)
- ↑ (2023). welldoing.org. "Overworked and Underpaid: UK Therapists Respond to US Online Platform BetterHelp" Retrieved 19 Dec 2025 (Archive)
- ↑ Pintwala, R. (2024, September 20). Firstsession.com; First Session. "Why BetterHelp is a Risk to Our Collective Mental Health." Retrieved Dec 19 2025 (Archive)
- ↑ Bartov, S. L. (2022, November 28). Newsweek. "BetterHelp patients furious at “sketchy” therapists." (Archive)
- ↑ Johnston, I. (2023, April 9). "Therapists sound alarm on BetterHelp’s rapid UK expansion. Financial Times." Retrieved 19 Dec 2025 (Archived)