The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is issuing orders to nine major social media and video streaming companies, asking them to provide data on how they “collect, use and present personal information”. The FTC also wants to know how the media giants handle advertising and engage users, and most importantly, how such practices affect children and teens.Among the companies that are to receive the issues are indeed some that influence mostly young audiences, namely ByteDance, the owner of TikTok. Others who will be getting an FTC order on the matter include Discord, Facebook, Reddit, Snap, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp and Amazon.
According to the FTC, the information seeked from the internet giants is specifically related to:
- how social media and video streaming services collect, use, track, estimate, or derive personal and demographic information;
- how they determine which ads and other content are shown to consumers;
- whether they apply algorithms or data analytics to personal information;
- how they measure, promote, and research user engagement; and
- how their practices affect children and teens.
The FTC’s press release also reads: “The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and to protect and educate consumers.”
Hopefully this move from the FTC will eventually help us all understand better the apps we rely on, in regards to how they use our data and serve us ads, as well as the overall impact those social media apps have on children.
