The Digital Wellness Industry Is Hijacking Women’s Health by Danielle Keats Citron, Jeanine K. Morris-Rush and Mona Sloane
Menopause and perimenopause, long under-researched and dismissed, have become a growth industry for online advertisers and wellness companies. Mining intimate data, this lucrative digital ecosystem exploits medical uncertainty to sell women hormones and supplements they don’t need, or that can even harm them.
CHARLOTTESVILLE—Apple’s health app has a new feature that can allegedly detect whether a woman is in perimenopause. The app notifies a user of her new health status, and a chatbot is available to provide more information. The bot asks: “Are you feeling tired and uninterested in sex?” “Having night sweats?” “Are you always itchy?” After answering “yes” to all three, the bot confirms that she may be experiencing early signs of perimenopause and potentially low testosterone or estrogen.
