Social media companies slammed for ‘woefully inadequate’ data collection safeguards: FTC

Social media companies collect, share and process vast amounts of information about their users with little transparency or control, including how it is used by systems that incorporate artificial intelligence, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report released Thursday.

The report analyzed how Meta Platforms, ByteDance’s TikTok, Amazon’s gaming platform Twitch and others manage user data, concluding that data management and retention policies at many of the companies were “woefully inadequate”.

YouTube, social media platform X, Snap, Discord and Reddit were also included in the FTC’s report, though its findings were anonymous and did not reveal the companies’ specific practices.

YouTube is owned by Alphabet’s Google.

Social media companies collect data through tracking technologies used in online advertising and the purchase of information from data brokers and other means, the FTC said.

“While profitable for companies, these surveillance practices can compromise people’s privacy, threaten their liberties, and expose them to a range of harms, from identity theft to stalking,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan.

Data privacy, especially for children and teenagers, has been a hot topic.

The House of Representatives is considering bills passed by the Senate in July aimed at addressing the effects of social media on young users.

And Meta recently rolled out accounts for teens that include enhanced parental controls.

Meanwhile, Big Tech companies have been scrambling to source data to train their emerging AI technologies.

Data deals are rarely disclosed and often involve private content locked behind paywalls and login screens, with little or no notice to the users who posted it.

In addition to collecting data about how users engage with their services, most of the companies the FTC reviewed collected users’ age and gender or assumed it based on other information.

Some also collected information on users’ income, education and family status, the FTC said.

The companies collected data about individuals who did not use their services, and some were unable to identify all the ways they collected and used the data, the FTC said.