Social media platforms are hoarding user data, FTC finds

Article by Grace Harmon  | Sep 20, 2024
Download
Social media platforms are hoarding user data, FTC finds
Share
Topics
Consumer Privacy & Security
Social Media Users
Internet Users
US

The news: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that major social media platforms are engaging in “vast surveillance” of users and attempting to get around child safety protection laws.

  • The FTC’s 2024 study covers services owned by Amazon, Meta, YouTube, TikTok-owner ByteDance, X (formerly Twitter), Discord, Reddit, WhatsApp, and Snap.
  • The agency said that the problematic data collection and ad targeting practices it found are consistent across the companies and that inadequate guardrails encourage “ever-more invasive” data collection.