Anti-abortion ads used location data from 600 Planned Parenthood locations, senator says

An anti-abortion group used location data to target women who visited 600 Planned Parenthood locations, an investigation by a U.S. Senator and the Wall Street Journal found.

In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the agencies to protect cell user data in the bankruptcy proceedings of Near Intelligence Inc. data company.

Wyden's office began looking into Near after a May 2023 Wall Street Journal story showed anti-abortion organization Project Veritas was using location data collected by Near to target anti-abortion advertisements via social media to people who had visited reproductive health clinics, the letter stated.

Wyden's interview with Steven Bogue, executive at the ad company that was involved in operating the campaign Recrue Media, revealed the scale of this operation: Veritas Society tracked location data for visitors to 600 Planned Parenthood locations in the lower 48 states. Bogue did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request to confirm the interview.

More:A year after the fall of Roe v. Wade, abortion access is reshuffled on state lines

Veritas Society, funded by Wisconsin Right to Life, ran targeted ad campaign

In May 2023, the WSJ reported that Veritas Society, a nonprofit funded by the Wisconsin Right to Life, ran a targeted anti-abortion ad campaign from November 2019 to late 2022.

The campaign used "geofencing" to extract unique device identifiers of phones carried into reproductive health clinics and then served anti-abortion ads to social media accounts linked to the device ID, WSJ reported.

“Took the first pill at the clinic? It may not be too late to save your pregnancy,” one of those ads stated, according to the WSJ.

Wisconsin Right to Life did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. A phone number listed on an archived version of the Veritas Society's website went through to voicemail and USA TODAY has not received a call back.

While using location data to target Planned Parenthood clinic visitors wasn't found by the WSJ to violate federal laws, several companies have policies around the sensitive nature of the ads and some states have relevant privacy policies in place, the Journal said.

By late 2022, the Veritas Society campaign was stopped because it violated the ad company's rules about targeting sensitive locations, according to the WSJ.

Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment, but told WSJ in May 2023 that the Veritas Society ran "disinformation" ads, and “Planned Parenthood is committed to providing sexual and reproductive health care and information in settings which preserve and protect the essential privacy and rights of everyone.”

Near Intelligence filed for bankruptcy, Senator Wyden asks for federal scrutiny

Near Intelligence Inc. filed for bankruptcy in December 2023, just months after it went public on the NASDAQ.

Wyden's letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan and SEC Chair Gary Gensler calls Near Intelligence a "scandal-plagued location data broker," citing another WSJ story in which the company appeared to sell user data to government intelligence agencies.

Wyden's letter asked the FTC to intervene in the bankruptcy proceedings to to ensure the user data collected by Near was destroyed. It also asked the SEC to expand an existing investigation into a data breach to see if the company issued misleading statements regarding informed consent for users whose data was being collected.

“If a data broker could track Americans’ cell phones to help extremists target misinformation to people at hundreds of Planned Parenthood locations across the United States, a right-wing prosecutor could use that same information to put women in jail,” Wyden said in a news release. “Federal watchdogs should hold the data broker accountable for abusing Americans’ private information. And Congress needs to step up as soon as possible to ensure extremist politicians can’t buy this kind of sensitive data without a warrant.”

Near did not respond to USA TODAY request for comment.