“Our Users' Privacy is Paramount to Us”: A Discourse Analysis of How Period and Fertility Tracking App Companies Address the Roe v Wade Overturn

Title of the Paper

“Our Users’ Privacy is Paramount to Us”: A Discourse Analysis of How Period and Fertility Tracking App Companies Address the Roe v. Wade Overturn

Paper Information

• Research Domain: Privacy protection, women’s health technology, user data privacy
• Keywords: app companies, period tracking, fertility tracking, public statements, privacy discourse, Roe v. Wade overturn, privacy communication, post-Dobbs era

Research Background and Problem Statement

• Problems and Challenges:

  • Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, concerns about data privacy in women’s period and fertility tracking apps have intensified.
  • Users fear that sensitive health data could be used in legal actions related to abortion laws.
  • In response to privacy concerns, many app companies have opted to communicate their privacy commitments through public statements, yet academic research on such privacy communication strategies remains scarce.

• Significance:

  • After the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned, privacy concerns—particularly regarding reproductive health data—have become a focal point of societal attention.
  • Data privacy issues have profound implications for user trust, corporate reputation, and the formulation of legal policies.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Previous studies have focused on analyzing the transparency and readability of privacy policies but have overlooked how companies express their privacy stance through public statements in response to privacy incidents.
  • There is currently a lack of systematic exploration of corporate privacy strategies in response to such significant historical events.

Solution

• Proposed Research Method:

  • The study systematically collected public statements from 14 women’s health tracking app companies following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
  • Using qualitative analysis methods, combining thematic analysis and discourse analysis, the study explores how companies convey their privacy commitments through statements.

• Innovative Contributions:

  • For the first time, the study analyzes public statements to uncover how companies address user privacy concerns and balance data privacy with legal compliance.
  • It provides a comprehensive analysis of the cultural, social, and contextual background embedded in corporate privacy communication, highlighting its complexity.

• Implementation Steps and Techniques:

  1. Data Collection: Gathered relevant statements from app websites and social media platforms (including Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.).
  2. Data Analysis:
     • Conducted thematic analysis to identify nine core themes: community, empathy, user autonomy, human rights, transparency, brand identity, technical features, business models, legal compliance.
     • Combined discourse analysis to deeply examine how companies articulate their privacy stance and strategies.
  3. Results Interpretation and Summary.

Research Findings

• Specific Findings:

  • Identified nine core themes in corporate privacy communication.
  • Summarized various strategies companies use to construct privacy discourse through public statements, including emphasizing community belonging, user privacy autonomy, and leveraging technical/legal frameworks to protect user data.

• Comparison with Existing Solutions and Advantages:

  • Unlike traditional privacy policy analysis, this study reveals how companies dynamically adjust their privacy communication in the context of significant events.
  • Public statements are more timely and accessible than privacy policies, directly reflecting corporate values and interactions with users.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • The study found that only 14 companies (approximately one-third of the 42 apps surveyed) issued relevant statements following the event, indicating that some companies remain relatively silent on privacy protection issues.
  • Companies use statements to showcase their unique positioning on privacy protection, aiming to establish differentiated brand recognition in a competitive app market.
  • Through rhetorical techniques such as metaphor and empathy, companies attempt to convey their support and trustworthiness to users.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations:
    • The study does not delve into users’ specific perceptions of these statements and their impact.
    • Data sources may be biased toward well-known companies with broad user attention.
  • Future Directions:
    1. Longitudinal Studies: Track and analyze the long-term evolution of corporate privacy discourse and policies.
    2. User Research: Explore users’ perceptions and the impact of statement content.
    3. Cross-Domain Comparisons: Investigate whether there is inherent consistency between public statements and privacy policies and their effect on actual privacy protection.
    4. Interaction with Legal Frameworks: Evaluate corporate privacy discourse under different jurisdictions (e.g., EU GDPR vs. U.S. privacy laws).