FTC Orders Facebook, YouTube, 7 Others to Detail Data Practices

The FTC ordered nine social media and video streaming companies Monday to detail data practices and how they affect younger users. Commissioners voted 4-1, with Noah Phillips dissenting, for orders to Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Amazon, Twitter, ByteDance, Reddit, Snap and Discord. The agency issued the orders through Section 6(b) authority, which allows subpoenas. The companies have 45 days to respond. This “will lift the hood on the social media and video streaming firms to carefully study their engines,” said Commissioners Rohit Chopra, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Christine Wilson: “As concerns mount regarding the impact of the tech companies on Americans’ privacy and behavior, this study is timely and important.” Phillips called this “an undisciplined foray into a wide variety of topics, some only tangentially related to the stated focus.” The order will produce little valuable information and “divert scarce commission resources,” he said. The agency is seeking information about ad targeting, algorithm application to personal information and user engagement practices. The Internet Association didn’t comment. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Mark Warner, D-Va., welcomed the 6(b) study. “Parents and policymakers alike are in the dark about how powerful websites and apps are siphoning kids’ and teens’ personal information, profiling users, and raking in profits while children get hooked on their devices,” said Markey. Warner called it “long overdue.”