The FTC wants to know exactly how big tech is using our data
Issue #10
To start, I’d like to wish all of you a happy holidays. I’m eager for the calendar to turn to 2021, as I’m sure many of you are as well. Heading into the holiday season, things have been anything but quiet in the world of technology and privacy. With antitrust lawsuits already pending against Facebook and Google, the FTC recently dropped another bombshell.
Last week was a bit of a big deal for digital privacy. One of the commissioners for the FTC, Rohit Chopra, announced an inquiry into the social media and video streaming industry and explained that they had ordered several platforms to detail their behavioral advertising practices and user surveillance. Just who was caught up in the investigation? TikTok, Facebook, Amazon, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, Discord and Twitter—the very platform Chopra used to share the news. He went on to explain that the orders "will shed light on how these companies track individuals, mine personal data, deploy algorithms, and monetize user behavior, as well as how these practices impact children." As a father and founder of a tech company for kids, this was certainly welcome news.
Recently, it feels like there's been an increasing awareness of just how invasive certain platforms are when it comes to our data. Well-publicized scandals like Cambridge Analytica and massive fines from the FTC levied against major platforms have given us a glimpse into the ways our privacy is routinely violated in the pursuit of profit. And while we might be waking up to the fact that our data is regularly harvested, consumers have been left to fend for themselves. The government has been slow to respond, and platforms have developed increasingly sophisticated means of extracting information from us. My hope is that inquiries like this will be a catalyst in the industry, moving us away from business models that monetize our data. I hope that in the not-so-distant-future, we'll look back on micro-targeting and wonder how we ever let companies get away with that kind of thing in the first place.
The most heartening thing about the FTC inquiry is that it specifically mentions how these questionable privacy practices affect our kids. I founded Kinzoo because I have two children who need access to technology—and I wasn't comfortable giving that technology full access to them. I believe that our industry can find new ways to build sustainable businesses that don't trade in our private information—and I hope that I can be a part of showing what's possible when tech companies put the needs of their users ahead of advertisers.
A deeper dive
Here are a few helpful resources in case you want to really dig into today's topic:
The commissioners for the FTC voted 4-1 to launch the inquiry into social media and video streaming platforms. An three of them released a joint statement about the move, explaining that "[t]hese digital products may have launched with the simple goal of connecting people or fostering creativity. But, in the decades since, the industry model has shifted from supporting users’ activities to monetizing them. This transition has been fueled by the industry’s increasing intrusion into our private lives.”
According to the FTC press release, the companies in question have 45 days to explain themselves, so I anticipate that the end of January 2021 will be another momentous time for digital privacy.
TL;DR
Too long; didn't read. It shouldn't be a full-time job to keep up on industry news, so here is a mercifully quick summary of some other notable developments:
Meanwhile, Facebook is facing different pressure over in Europe as well. The EU's executive arm proposed two bills that could affect the tech giant: one focused on illegal content and the other on anticompetitive behavior. These would empower regulators to impose fines of up to 6% or 10% of yearly worldwide revenue—or even break up big tech companies.
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And lastly
Here are a few more pieces of original writing from me and my team—just in case you're keen for more:
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