The Federal Trade Commission posted a Press Release titled: FTC Staff Report Finds Large Social Media and Video Streaming Companies Have Engaged In Vast Surveillance of Users with Lax Privacy Controls and Inadequate Safeguards for Kids and Teens.
A new Federal Trade Commission staff report that examines the data collection and use practices of major social media and video streaming services shows they engaged in vast surveillance of consumers in order to monetize their personal information while failing to adequately protect users online, especially children and teens.
The staff report is based on responses to 6(b) orders issued in December 2020 to nine companies including some of the largest social media and video streaming services: Amazon.com, Inc., which owns gaming platform Twitch; Facebook Inc. (now Meta Platforms, Inc.); YouTube LLC; Twitter, Inc. (now X Corp); Snap Inc; ByteDance Ltd., which owns the video-sharing platform TikTok; Discord Inc,; Reddit, Inc.; and WhatsApp Inc.
The orders asked for information about how the companies collect, track and use personal and demographic information, how they determine which ads and other content are shown to consumers, whether and how they apply algorithms or data analytics to personal and demographic information, and how their practice impact children and teens.
The Guardian reported social media and online video companies are collecting huge troves of your personal information on and off their websites or apps and sharing it with a wide range of third-party entities, a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report on nine tech companies confirms.
The FTC report published on Thursday looked at the data gathering practices of Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Discord, Reddit, Amazon, Snap, TikTok, and Twitter/X between January 2019 and 31 December 2020. The majority of the companies’ business models incentivized tracking how people engaged with their platforms, collecting their personal data and using it to determine what content and ads users see on their feeds, the report states.
CBS News reported child advocates have long complained that federal child privacy laws let social media services off the hook provided their products are not directed at kids and that their policies formally bar minors on their sites. Big tech companies also often claim not to know how many kids use their platforms, critics have noted.
The report recommends steps, including federal legislation, to limit surveillance and give consumers rights over their data.
Congress is also moving to hold tech companies accountable for how online content affects kids. In July, the Senate overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting children called the Kids Online Safety Act. The bill would require companies strengthen kids’ privacy and give parents more control over what content their children see online.
In my opinion, I think the FTC is correct about not only providing their press release, but also to alert parents that not all social media sites are safe for their children and teens.