Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Amazon, TikTok, Facebook, Others Ordered To Explain What They Do With User Data

Amazon, TikTok, Facebook, Others Ordered To Explain What They Do With User Data

The Federal Trade Commission gave nine social media and tech companies 45 days to hand over details on how they collect user data. It is the latest move by government actors to regulate Big Tech.

The Federal Trade Commission is demanding that nine social media and tech companies share details on how they harness users' data and what they do with the information.

Amazon.com, TikTok owner ByteDance, Discord, Facebook, Reddit, Snap, Twitter, WhatsApp (also owned by Facebook) and YouTube were sent orders by the FTC on Monday to provide the commission with details on their data collection and advertising practices. The companies have 45 days to respond to the order.

Representatives for these companies didn't immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.

The inquiry is the latest move by federal regulators to crack the whip on Big Tech in an attempt to monitor their activities. Increased scrutiny by federal and state officials this year has pushed major social media websites and apps to answer for perceived improper uses of consumer data and violations of federal anti-monopoly law.

This order comes just a week after the FTC and 48 attorneys general across the country filed lawsuits against Facebook, accusing the social media giant of unlawfully maintaining a monopoly. The company has denied this claim.

The FTC's request for information covers a wide scope in order "to understand how business models influence what Americans hear and see, with whom they talk, and what information they share." The agency is using its authority under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which allows it to undertake broad studies separate from law enforcement.

"Critical questions about business models, algorithms, and data collection and use have gone unanswered. Policymakers and the public are in the dark about what social media and video streaming services do to capture and sell users' data and attention," FTC Commissioners Rohit Chopra, Rebecca Slaughter and Christine Wilson said in a statement. "It is alarming that we still know so little about companies that know so much about us."

The commission wants the tech companies to detail how many users each company has, how active they are and what else is known about them. The inquiry also asks the social media and video streaming companies to hand over information on how they process the data collected and how advertising and engagement practices impact young, underage users.

The commissioners voted to issue Monday's orders in a 4-1 vote. Republican Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips dissented.

In a statement, Phillips wrote, "The breadth of the inquiry, the tangential relationship of its parts, and the dissimilarity of the recipients combine to render these orders unlikely to produce the kind of information the public needs, and certain to divert scarce Commission resources better directed elsewhere."

Big Tech scrutiny


Lawmakers and civil and consumer rights groups have placed Big Tech under the microscope this year in particular, following revelations showing questionable practices by major websites and apps.

The Wall Street Journal has reported on how apps share user information with Facebook. The newspaper also recently revealed that Amazon was scooping up data from independent sellers and using it to create its own competing products. Amazon executives have denied this.

This summer, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai and Apple's Tim Cook testified virtually before Congress about Silicon Valley's perceived monopoly power.

During this hearing, Bezos acknowledged the $1 trillion company may be misusing data to push out independent sellers. He said the company is undergoing an internal investigation into the matter.

This year alone has brought major lawsuits against tech companies. In addition to the blockbuster lawsuit filed against Facebook last week, the U.S. Justice Department and 11 states sued Google, alleging the company violated competition law.

How these companies interact with underage users and what information gleaned from their activity has also been the subject of litigation.

In August, the parents of dozens of minors sued TikTok in federal court, alleging that the popular video-sharing app collects information about their users' facial characteristics, locations and close contacts. The company then sends that data to servers in China without users knowing and it is potentially shares it with the Chinese Communist Party, the lawsuit alleges.

The Trump administration considers TikTok a national security threat because the parent company is based in China, and it shares concerns that information from U.S.-based users is being collected by Beijing. TikTok denies these allegations but says it can share user information to its servers, if it chooses to, without breaking U.S. law.

Civil rights groups and consumer groups are urging regulators to go further and examine popular dating apps Grindr, Tinder and OKCupid.

The Norwegian Consumer Council published a report in January showing 10 apps collected sensitive information including a user's exact location, sexual orientation, religious and political beliefs, drug use and other information in a practice called "data harvesting." The apps then transmitted the personal data to at least 135 third-party companies.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×