FTC says tech companies collect consumer data without ample protections

Major social media and video streaming companies are collecting data on their customers and selling it without adequately protecting users’ privacy, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report Thursday. Children and teens were especially vulnerable to such practices, according to the FTC. “Several firms’ failure to adequately protect kids and teens online is especially troubling,” Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement. “While lucrative for 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.

” Almost four years ago, the FTC ordered nine companies to provide data on how they collect, use and present personal information, as well as how they advertise and engage with their users, especially teens and children. The FTC report is based on responses from Amazon (owner of the gaming platform Twitch); Meta (formerly known as Facebook), YouTube, Twitter, Snap, ByteDance (owner of TikTok), Discord, Reddit and WhatsApp. It said many of the companies “engaged in broad data sharing” and that some of them did not delete user data even when it was requested.