The consumer-protection agency said in a report that major social-media companies and video streaming services engaged in vast consumer surveillance while failing to provide adequate privacy controls or safeguards for children.

Consumers do not understand how much privacy they are giving up, largely to facilitate targeted advertising, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report on the data practices of social media and video streaming companies.

The FTC is sounding the alarm on social media companies over how they utilize users' data and children's personal information.

FTC seeks clear information on how social media and streaming companies determine which specific ads and other content to show individuals.

The report is in response to 6(b) orders issued in December 2020 to nine social media and video streaming sites.

They're doing very little to protect the young ones from harmful content and are pushing back against legislation.

The FTC has issued a damning new report on the data collection and use practices of 9 social media and streaming services.

Social media companies collect, share and process vast troves of information about their users while offering little transparency or control, including over how it is used by systems incorporating artificial intelligence,

The report analyzed how Meta Platforms, ByteDance's TikTok, Amazon's gaming platform Twitch, and others manage user data, concluding that data management and retention policies at many of the companies were "woefully inadequate.

FTC Chair Lina Khan says tech giants such as Meta and Google "endanger people's privacy" and "expose them to a host of harms."