Major social media and video streaming platforms are engaged in mass data collection and surveillance, putting people’s privacy at risk to generate billions of dollars in profit, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Thursday.
In a 129-page report, the FTC said that the platforms collected “troves of data” from both users and non-users, including children and teenagers, while failing to adequately protect their privacy.
The report was based on responses to orders issued in December 2020 to nine companies: Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (now X), Snap, ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company), Discord, Reddit, and WhatsApp.
The orders sought information on how the companies collect, track, and use personal and demographic data, as well as how they determine which ads and content are shown to consumers….