Apoteket shared customer information: "It was wrong"

- I really regret what has happened, says Apoteket's General Counsel Anna Rogmark to Swedish Radio Ekot.

At the end of April, Ekot reported that Apoteket had sent information from its online store about what customers put in their basket, as well as email addresses and telephone numbers to Facebook.

The information was only sent to Facebook if the customers had approved so-called marketing cookies on the site.

To avoid the information being shared, customers had to opt out of cookies or leave the cookie box.

Signed up themselves

In connection with Ekot's review, Apoteket blocked all transmission to Facebook from its website, and reported itself to the Privacy Protection Authority.

An internal review was also initiated.

Previously, the company did not want to comment on whether the transaction was wrong or not, but now Apoteket states that it was not right to share customer information in that way.

- I think we have incorrectly shared the type of information that is linked to health-related issues, says Anna Rogmark.

According to Anna Rogmark, the sharing of information may have been going on for five years and the estimate is that around one million customers have been affected.

The purpose has, according to Apoteket, been to follow up the company's own advertising on Facebook.