According to media reports, The Federal Trade Commission recently highlighted nine tech giants including Amazon, Facebook, WhatsApp (owned by Facebook), Reddit, Snapchat, Twitter, Discord, and ByteDance, and YouTube (owned by Google) for some questions. FTC ordered these companies to provide the data of their usage of the users’ personal information. The FTC’s one of the major goals is to capture the procedure that these huge tech companies follow to target advertisement customers since one way of generating revenue is through ads.
The Federal Trade Commission Granted 45 Days To Respond
Social media is a place that involves billions of people in numerous activities. The users provide their personal data to the sites for multiple purposes including account creation, participation in activities on social media sites, and so on. However, they don’t know that many social media trends can compromise user data and leave the users’ personal information vulnerable.
FTC commissioners, Rebecca Kelly, Rohit Chopra, and Christine S. Wilson stated that we know nothing about these companies whereas, they know so much about us. This association is to be more comprehendible.
According to the Federal commission, this huge tech industry is supposed to present their data regarding the use of users’ demographic information before the agency. The agency wants to comprehend how tech giants manage personal data. Furthermore, the aim is to see if their processes somehow influence children negatively.
The federal Trade commission gave forty-five days’ notice to the companies to come forward and present what is demanded by the agency.
Which Companies Responded To FTC?
Only three out of nine of these giant tech companies presented their arguments to the Federal commission. A Twitter spokesperson responded by showing a willingness to cooperate with the Federal Trade Commission. As per Twitter, they are working as they always do to assure FTC that they are on the right track with their procedures.
The spokesperson of Discord, reportedly stated that don’t take user’s privacy and security lightly and they are also willing to work with the agency to eradicate all the alleged misconceptions about their work. Discord also mentioned that there are no advertisements on the platform and their source of revenue is not ads or selling of user’s data.
A Reddit spokesperson said that they will share their data regarding the privacy policies and practices with the Federal Commission Agency.
What Happens If The Tech Giants Don’t Respond?
Tech giants have a way of pushing them into controversies due to their alleged inappropriate actions. For instance, the Facebook controversy revealed its inhuman behavior towards its staff during the pandemic as it did not allow the workers to work from home.
The agency strictly stated that tech companies have only forty-five days to obey FTC. After that, the only option will be the court and legal action against the companies. In other words, FTC will enforce the order through the court’s help.
