FTC slams tech giants for AI, data surveillance practices
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The news: Social media companies’ monetisation of personal data has created a market for commercial surveillance via social media and video streaming services, with “woefully inadequate” practices and without guardrails to protect consumers.
That is the message from a report by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after it reviewed the practices of Facebook’s parent Meta, WhatsApp, Reddit, YouTube, ByteDance’s TikTok and other social media companies.
The report also says users have little control over how their personal information is used for AI-fuelled systems.
The numbers: Billions of dollars are generated annually by these companies through the surveillance of users and the monetisation of vast amounts of their data, particularly through targeted advertising, the FTC said.
The report is based on responses to information orders issued in December 2020 to nine companies, which also include X (formerly Twitter), Discord, Snapchat’s maker Snap and Amazon’s Twitch.
The context: The report found companies gather data through tracking technologies, purchases from data brokers and other means.
And the social media companies are using personal data, including from non-users, to train their AI systems and algorithms, with little transparency or control for users, and inadequate monitoring of those automated processes.
It criticised the data management and retention policies of the platforms, calling them “woefully inadequate”, but without naming any company in particular.
What they said: "While lucrative for the companies, these surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identity theft to stalking," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.
“Several firms’ failure to adequately protect kids and teens online is especially troubling. The Report’s findings are timely, particularly as state and federal policymakers consider legislation to protect people from abusive data practices.”
The sources: FTC release , FTC report
