FTC: Vast Surveillance of Users by Social Media and Video Streaming Companies
A recent FTC report reveals major social media companies conduct extensive surveillance on users, especially minors, with inadequate privacy controls, urging Congress to enact federal privacy legislation and improve data practices.
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A recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report reveals that major social media and video streaming companies have engaged in extensive surveillance of users, particularly children and teens, while implementing inadequate privacy controls. The report, based on data from nine prominent companies, including Meta, YouTube, and TikTok, highlights how these firms collect vast amounts of personal data to monetize it, often at the expense of user privacy. The findings indicate that many companies retain user data indefinitely, share it broadly, and fail to delete data upon user requests. The report also emphasizes the negative mental health impacts of social media on young users and criticizes the lack of protections for children and teens, who are often treated similarly to adult users. The FTC recommends that Congress enact comprehensive federal privacy legislation to limit surveillance and enhance consumer data rights. Additionally, it urges companies to adopt stricter data collection and retention policies, improve transparency regarding data usage, and implement better protections for minors. The report underscores the need for a more robust regulatory framework to address the privacy risks associated with the data practices of these platforms.
- Major social media and video streaming companies engage in extensive user surveillance.
- Inadequate privacy controls particularly affect children and teens.
- The FTC recommends comprehensive federal privacy legislation.
- Companies are urged to limit data collection and improve transparency.
- The report highlights the negative mental health impacts of social media on young users.
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- Many commenters express frustration over the lack of accountability and liability for companies mishandling user data.
- There is a general sentiment that the government has been slow to address these issues, with some calling for stronger regulations.
- Concerns are raised about the implications of targeted advertising and data collection, particularly regarding minors and sensitive information.
- Some users argue that targeted advertising can be beneficial, allowing for more efficient connections between consumers and products.
- Several comments highlight the irony of government surveillance practices while advocating for user privacy.
41 commentsIt is insane to me that I can be notified via physical mail of months old data breaches, some of which contained my Social Security number, and that my only recourse is to set credit freezes from multiple credit bureaus.
Next please reign in the CRAs.
> many companies engaged in broad data sharing that raises serious concerns regarding the adequacy of the companies’ data handling controls and oversight.
>>> But these findings should not be viewed in isolation. They stem from a business model that varies little across these nine firms – harvesting data for targeted advertising, algorithm design, and sales to third parties. With few meaningful guardrails, companies are incentivized to develop ever-more invasive methods of collection. >>>
[0]: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Social-Media-6b...
Instagram Teen Accounts
As a non-user of many social media platforms, is there anything I can do to prevent companies from collecting data about me? It feels wrong that companies you do not sign up for are still finding and processing data about you.
I suspect it will break in the direction of the narrative that "data wasn't that valuable anyway", regardless of how disingenuous this sentiment is. Nothing else preserves the economic machine while simultaneously dismissing the concerns of consumers. Perhaps we'll get special protection for stuff like SSNs to make it seem like politicians are acting on the behalf of their constituents (even though a competent manager of a rational society would simply ban use of ssn as a form of identification as this is basically public information.
How are data deletion requests supposed to be handled in practice, when the only way to be sure is to physically destroy the hardware that data was stored on ? (Especially the case for transistor-based storage, and even more so when wear leveling is being used.)
Or is this is actually a "pinky promise" by the company to not restore the data (or else they will have to face legal consequences) ?
[1]https://www.theverge.com/2013/12/12/5204196/how-advertisers-...
One arm: "everyone is a criminal; spy on everyone"
Other arm: "hey you shouldn't really harvest all of that data"
There is a long trail of blood behind google and facebook, amazon... Etc...
Should ad prices be lower or higher?
Should YouTube be free for everyone, or should it cost money?
Is there any evidence that any of these things have ever happened as a result of this sort of data collection? I'm not talking about data posted to social media, I'm talking about the specific data collection described in this FTC press release.
The FTC chair is complaining that companies "monetize that data to the tune of billions of dollars a year," but all this means is that this service is tremendously valuable.
The Internet's targeted advertising system is a major achievement of modern information technology and data science, and we dismantle it at our peril.
> Targeted ads based on knowledge about protected categories can be especially distressing. One example is when someone has not disclosed their sexual orientation publicly, but an ad assumes their sexual orientation. Another example is when a retailer identifies someone as pregnant and targets ads for baby products before others, including family, even know about the pregnancy. These types of assumptions and inferences upon which targeted advertising is based can in some instances result in emotional distress, lead to individuals being misidentified or misclassified, and cause other harms.
If this is one of the biggest harms the FTC can come up with, then honestly as a consumer I don't really care. Having free youtube is worth getting a few mistargeted ads, or I CAN JUST TURN TARGETED ADS OFF. Advertising isn't someone harassing you, its an ad that I can close or just report as not being accurate. I'd really be interested to hear from someone who thinks getting a mistargeted ad is in top 10 most stressful things in their life.
What I would really be interested in is the raw responses from the companies, not this report.
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