“Simply staggering” surveillance conducted by social media and streaming services, FTC finds

The FTC’s “A Look Behind the Screens” report finds that major social media and streaming platforms engage in extensive, opaque data collection and tracking—on and off their services—using algorithms and AI to drive advertising and infer sensitive details about users, while providing insufficient protections for children and teens. It criticizes indefinite data retention, widespread third‑party sharing, and reliance on hidden tracking mechanisms, concluding that self‑regulation has failed and calling for legislation to increase transparency, restrict use of sensitive data for ads, and better protect young users.