The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday escalated its battle with the tech giants as it moved to impose a “total ban” on Facebook parent company Meta’s collection of personal data from young people.
Commission wants record $5 billion consent order to grow significantly from 2020, with Meta fully delivering on legal promise to review privacy practices to better protect users said he couldn’t.
The regulator also said Meta misled parents about being able to control who their children communicated with on the Messenger Kids app, and misrepresented that it allowed some app developers access to users’ personal data. said.
The proposed changes are the third time a government agency has taken action against the social media giant over privacy concerns.
Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Office of Consumer Protection, said in a press statement: “Facebook needs to answer its failures.”
The FTC’s administrative action, dubbed a “reasoning order,” sets out the Commission’s indictments and proposed restrictions against Meta. The changes proposed by the FTC will prevent Meta from profiting from data collected from users under the age of 18 through Facebook, Instagram, Oculus headsets, its new virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds, and more. lose. Regulators want these young users to ban the company from using that data even after she turns 18.
This could prevent Meta from using details about young people’s activities to serve ads based on their behavior or encourage them to buy digital items such as virtual clothing for their avatars. I have.
The proposed changes could have significant financial implications as user data is key to Meta’s advertising business and how Meta earns the majority of its revenue.
This affirmative action is the first time the commission has proposed a blanket ban on data use to protect the online privacy of minors. And since her 1990s, when the commercial internet was still in its infancy, the government has been in the midst of a move to isolate America’s youth online.
Fueled by growing concerns about depression in children and concerns that potentially harmful online experiences can exacerbate depression, legislators in at least 20 states last year called for specific social networks, such as social networks. has introduced a bill that would require the site to be banned or restricted. Young people on the platform. Regulators have also stepped up their efforts, fining online services whose use or misuse of data may put children at risk.
Over the past few years, critics have accused Meta of promoting content about self-harm and extreme dieting to teenage girls on Instagram and failing to adequately protect young users from child sexual exploitation. I was.
Meta, given 30 days to contest the filing, was not given prior notice of action by the FTC
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