The FTC Orders Facebook To Explain How They Collect User Data

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) formally filed charges against Facebook for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly over social media. Now, the government organization has demanded that Facebook and eight other tech giants disclose how they collect and use personal data.

The regulatory agency not only wants a full accounting of how the social media giant handles data, but also how it serves up ads to users, whether algorithms are used to sort through personal information, and how all of these practices impact younger users. In all, the FTC’s effort will represent a thorough (and very public) accounting of how Facebook treats users’ information behind closed doors.

“The FTC wants to understand how business models influence what Americans hear and see, with whom they talk, and what information they share,” three of the commissioners who voted for the action said in a statement. “And the FTC wants to better understand the financial incentives of social media and video streaming services.”

Facebook has long said it would welcome government regulation as a way to remove its responsibility to police itself. However, now that the government actually is cracking down, time will tell how well the company actually takes it.




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