FTC report: Mass surveillance by online platforms is out of control

The world's largest internet platforms have built up a huge surveillance network to monetize their users' personal data, particularly with targeted advertising. At the same time, they are far from adequately protecting the privacy of consumers, especially children and young people. This is the conclusion reached by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after a four-year investigation into the relevant practices of Amazon and its subsidiary Twitch, Meta with Facebook and WhatsApp, Google's YouTube, Twitter (X), Snap, the Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance, Discord and Reddit. FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan warns that this surveillance capitalism threatens the fundamental freedoms of citizens. It exposes them to "a range of dangers", from identity theft to stalking.

In the unanimously adopted report, the US trade regulator documents that the major social media and streaming portals collect "vast amounts of data", including information from opaque marketplaces and credit agencies about users and non-users of their platforms. It emphasizes that many of the companies involved engage in "extensive data sharing", which raises "serious concerns about the adequacy of controls and oversight". In some cases, the companies themselves could not say with whom they shared personal information. In particular, the FTC states that the operators' data collection, minimization and retention practices are "wholly inadequate". Some did not delete all of their data even when users requested it.

No opt-out from automated surveillance

The business models of many of the companies analyzed promoted "the mass collection of user data", the report continues. Some used "privacy-violating tracking technologies" such as cookies or special pixels to serve users advertising based on their preferences and interests. The platforms fed personal data of users and their contacts into their automated systems on a large scale and used algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) for big data analysis. Those affected often have no opportunity to object to this. There are only "different, inconsistent and inadequate approaches to monitoring and checking the use" of such technologies.

Another finding is that social media and streaming services often treat children and young people in the same way as adult users. Most allow these age groups to use their platforms without account restrictions. The authors also point to potential competition problems: companies that accumulate large amounts of user data could gain a dominant market position and engage in further harmful business practices.

The FTC is therefore calling on Congress to pass "comprehensive data protection laws" and take basic countermeasures. The companies should limit data storage and transfer, restrict personalized advertising and strengthen the protection of minors. According to the US civil rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the report highlights a fundamental problem: "These data breaches are not occasional missteps." Rather, they are "an integral part of the online behavioral advertising business model".

(nen)