Major social networking sites such as YouTube and X are not adequately protecting children and are using excuses such as 'there are no child users on our services'
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reported the results of its investigation into the personal information collection practices of major social media companies. The report shows that companies collect personal information in all sorts of ways and do not adequately protect children.
A Look Behind the Screens: Examining the Data Practices of Social Media and Video Streaming Services - Social-Media-6b-Report-9-11-2024.pdf
(PDF file)
FTC Staff Report Finds Large Social Media and Video Streaming Companies Have Engaged in Vast Surveillance of Users with Lax Privacy Controls and Inadequate Safeguards for Kids and Teens | Federal Trade Commission
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-staff-report-finds-large-social-media-video-streaming-companies-have-engaged-vast-surveillance
In December 2020, the FTC ordered nine major social media companies, including Amazon (which operates Twitch), Facebook (now Meta), YouTube, Twitter (now X), Snap, ByteDance (which operates TikTok), Discord, Reddit, and WhatsApp, to report on how they collect, track, and use personal and statistical information, how they select the content they display to users, whether and how they apply algorithms or analytics to personal and statistical information, and the impact on children and teenagers. The report released this time summarizes the responses to this order.
According to the report, social media companies collect personal information from a variety of sources, including 'direct user input,' 'user behavioral history,' 'other social media sites provided by the companies,' 'inferences made using algorithms and AI,' 'advertiser tracking technology,' and 'advertisers and data brokers.'
Social media companies make billions of dollars a year by collecting personal information. FTC Chair Lina Khan said, 'Collecting personal information is profitable for companies, but surveilling users puts their privacy at risk, threatens their freedom, and exposes them to identity theft and stalking,' criticizing the companies' collection of personal information as 'surveillance.'
Other problems that have been pointed out include that 'some companies leave some data on hold when they receive requests from users to delete their personal information,' and 'companies use automated systems that analyze personal information using AI or algorithms, but do not provide a way to limit or disable the use of data by these automated systems.'
In addition, the report cited research showing that SNSs have a negative impact on the mental health of young users and concluded that companies have not provided adequate protection for children and young people on their services. In addition, many companies have used excuses such as 'our services are not for children' and 'our services prohibit children from creating accounts, so there are no children on the platform' to avoid responsibility. Chairman Khan said, 'It is particularly worrying that some companies have not adequately protected children and teenagers.'
Based on this report, the FTC is calling on policymakers to 'pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation that limits corporate surveillance and gives users control over their data. It also calls on companies to 'limit data collection,' 'delete data appropriately,' 'ban privacy-invasive ad tracking technologies,' and 'strengthen privacy protections for teenagers.'
Related Posts:
in Web Service, Posted by log1o_hf