US FTC seeks data on how Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and others use personal information

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking information from Facebook, Twitter and other social media and video streaming companies about how they use the personal information that they collect on their users, the US agency said on Monday.

In addition to Facebook and Twitter, the orders requesting data were sent to Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp, Amazon, China’s ByteDance unit TikTok, Discord, Reddit, Snap, and Google subsidiary YouTube.

The FTC is seeking to learn how the companies collect data on users, how they decide which advertisements to show and how algorithms are used, among other information, the agency said in a statement. It is also seeking information about how the companies’ practices affect children and teenagers.

The companies have 45 days to respond to the orders, which are usually used to generate policy or recommend legislation.

In a joint statement, two Democratic members of the commission, Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Slaughter, and one Republican, Christine Wilson, noted their impetus for the order.