Facebook slammed after advertising funeral directors to a CANCER patient: Promotions appeared after sufferer Googled disease

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2989768/Facebook-slammed-advertising-funeral-directors-CANCER-patient-Promotions-appeared-sufferer-Googled-disease.html

A cancer patient who searched online for support about his disease was left horrified when Facebook began placing advertisement for funeral directors on his Facebook feed.

Daniel Kapp, 46, was diagnosed with prostate cancer last month. Shortly after he used the web to learn more about the illness.

When he opened Facebook the following day he said he was ‘bombarded’ with ‘insensitive’ promotions that he couldn’t remove.

After going public on having cancer via FB I’ve started getting sponsered ads for funeral palours #wtf #epicfail pic.twitter.com/BWOKBSjmTD

— Dani Kapp (@DanielKapp) March 2, 2015

t showed an elderly couple with the tagline: ‘Wir helfen Ihnen gerne!’ or ‘We’re here to help.’

Mr Kapp (pictured) is a strategic consultant in Austria. He described the Facebook adverts as ‘scandalous’

‘I was just knocked off my feet to see that there on the screen,’ said Mr Kapp, who works as a strategic consultant in Austria. 

‘It is just completely insensitive. And every time I tried to delete it, it appeared again.’

He blamed Facebook for monitoring the data about the searches he had done and then using it in order to sell it on to potential advertisers.

The consultant also tweeted about his surprise: ‘After going public on having cancer via FB I’ve started getting sponsored ads for funeral parlours #wtf #epicfail [sic]’

‘I think it’s just tasteless and scandalous,’ Mr Kapp continued.

‘But it seems that anyone who is looking for information under the string search ‘life expectancy ‘ or ‘cancer’ on Google can then expect to get inappropriate adverts on social networks.’

When contacted by local media, the directors of the funeral companies said they were shocked their adverts were being used to target people in this way. One said: ‘I can confirm that this should never have happened.’

Facebook uses cookies to track its users – both on and off the site – and deliver relevant adverts.

Take Home Message

1. Your medical data is VERY valuable.

2. Never use Google.

3. DO use http://www.startpage.com – they delete your IP and data.  Google will see Startpage not you.. Startpage servers are audited by the EU to ensure no personal data is stored on them.  They are the most private search engine.  if you need medical data, use startpage as your search engine.