The FTC staff report examined data practices of nine major social media and video streaming companies and found they engaged in vast surveillance of users with lax privacy controls and inadequate safeguards for children and teens. The report recommends limiting data collection, restricting targeted advertising, and strengthening protections for young users, and calls for comprehensive federal privacy legislation.
In-house legal teams should review vendor agreements with major social media/video streaming platforms, customer agreements for services integrating these platforms' APIs or SDKs, and data processing addendums. Focus on clauses defining data collection scope, consent mechanisms (especially for minors under COPPA and teens), third-party data sharing permissions, data retention periods, and security safeguards. Recommended changes include: implementing data minimization principles; requiring verifiable parental consent for children's data and enhanced consent options for teens; adding explicit opt-out mechanisms for ad targeting; limiting retention to what is necessary; strengthening default privacy settings for younger users; and ensuring contractual obligations align with COPPA and emerging youth protection standards.
Entity
Major Social Media and Video Streaming Companies (Amazon, Meta, YouTube, X, Snap, TikTok, Discord, Reddit, WhatsApp)
Also known as: Major Social Media and Video Streaming Companies
Industry
Social MediaOfficial Press Release
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-staff-report-finds-large-social-media-video-streaming-companies-have-engaged-vast-surveillance
look behind scenes examining data practices social media vid
https://www.ftc.gov/reports/look-behind-scenes-examining-data-practices-social-media-video-streaming-services
Federal Trade Commission Enforcement Page
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement
"nine companies including some of the largest social media and video streaming services: Amazon.com, Inc., which owns the gaming platform Twitch; Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms, Inc.); YouTube LLC; Twitter, Inc. (now X Corp.); Snap Inc.; ByteDance Ltd., which owns the video-sharing platform TikTok; Discord Inc.; Reddit, Inc.; and WhatsApp Inc."
"Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule"
"engaged in vast surveillance of consumers in order to monetize their personal information while failing to adequately protect users online, especially children and teens."
The FTC rescinded its 2021 Policy Statement on Breaches by Health Apps and Other Connected Devices, which had purported to apply the Health Breach Notification Rule to health apps and connected devices that collect consumer health information. The rescission follows the Commission's 2024 update to the Health Breach Notification Rule, which already covers health apps and connected devices like fitness trackers, and implements an executive order directing agencies to eliminate obsolete guidance documents. No company was charged or penalized; this is a deregulatory action.
$12.0M
The FTC alleged that payment processor Humboldt Merchant Services knowingly processed payments for more than 1,000 shell merchant entities serving as fronts for fraudulent companies engaged in unauthorized billing scams, despite red flags including chargeback rates nearly 10 times higher than card-brand thresholds. Under the proposed stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Humboldt will pay $12 million for consumer redress and is permanently banned from processing payments for merchants with a heightened risk of potential fraud.
$4.8M
The FTC charged Canada-based payment processor Nuvei Corporation and its subsidiaries with knowingly processing payments for fraudulent merchants, including more than $30 million in payments for the Reimage tech support scam from 2017 to 2023, as well as merchants making false earnings claims and impersonating government tax authorities. Under the stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Nuvei will pay $4.85 million for consumer redress, is banned from serving tech support telemarketers, and must implement robust merchant screening and chargeback monitoring practices. Note: this is a payments-fraud facilitation action under the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule, not a data privacy violation.
The FTC announced a seven-day extension of the public comment period on its proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing, pushing the deadline from Sept. 18, 2026 to Sept. 25, 2026. Personalized pricing refers to using personal data to set prices based on what the company believes an individual consumer is willing to spend. This is a procedural announcement about draft agency guidance, not an enforcement action against any company, and no entity was named, no violation found, and no penalty imposed.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined the FTC and 22 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Amazon for manipulating the auctions used to set advertising prices, replacing actual auction results with higher prices since 2019 and overcharging nearly 1.2 million U.S. advertising customers. The FTC estimates total improper surcharges from 2018 to 2026 exceed $20 billion, with costs ultimately passed to shoppers through higher prices. The states seek a permanent injunction and monetary relief; no penalty has been imposed yet as this is a newly filed complaint.
$930K
The FTC finalized orders requiring CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group), MindSift LLC, and 1010 Digital Works LLC to pay a total of $930,000 for falsely claiming they offered an AI-powered service that could target ads based on conversations captured from consumers' smart devices, and that consumers had opted into such targeting. The orders also prohibit the companies from making misrepresentations about their advertising services, voice data collection, and consumer consent.