Social media companies collect, share and process vast troves of information about their users while offering little transparency or control, including over how it is used by systems incorporating artificial intelligence, the US Federal Trade Commission said in a report released on 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 report, though its findings were anonymized and did not reveal specific companies’ practices. YouTube is owned by Alphabet’s Google.
Other companies did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Social media companies gather data through tracking technologies used in online advertising and buying information from data brokers, and other means, the FTC said. “While beneficial for companies, these illegal practices can threaten people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of risks, from identity theft to stalking,” said FTC Chairman Lina Khan.
Data protection is an important topic, especially for children and young people. The US 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 launched youth accounts that include key controls.
Meanwhile, big tech companies are scrambling to get data sources to train their new AI technology. The data deals are infrequently disclosed and often involve private content locked behind paywalls and login screens, with scant 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 guessed it based on other information. Some also gathered information on users’ income, education and family status, the FTC said.
Companies gathered data on individuals who did not use their services, and some were not able to identify all of the ways they collected and used data, the FTC said.
Advertising industry groups criticised the report on Thursday, saying that consumers recognize the value of ad-supported services. “We are disappointed that the FTC continues to label the digital advertising industry as ‘mass marketing surveillance,'” said David Cohen, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an advertising and marketing group that includes Snapchat. TikTok and more. And Amazon is among the members.
