Some of the largest mental health support organisations in Britain gave Facebook information about private web browsing for its targeted advertising system.
The data was delivered via a monitoring mechanism installed in the charities’ websites and includes details of URLs a user visited and buttons they clicked across content linked to depression, self-harm and eating disorders.
Additionally, it included information about the times visitors saw pages to access online chat tools and when they clicked links that said “I need help” in order to request assistance. Some of the pages that caused data sharing with Facebook were particularly targeted towards youngsters, such as a page for 11 to 18-year-olds that provided guidance on how to deal with suicidal thoughts.
Details of conversations between charities and users or messages sent via chat tools were not included in the data sent to Facebook during the Observer’s analysis. All of the charities emphasised that they took service user privacy very seriously and that such messages were confidential.