"While lucrative for the companies, these surveillance practices can endanger people's privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identity theft to stalking," stated FTC chair Lina M. Khan.
The report called out major social media companies for collecting vast swaths of personal data and using it in ways their users may not expect.
Many of these companies buy data from third-party brokers about where a user is located, how much they make per year, and what their interests are, to understand more about a user's activity.
According to the FTC report, it's difficult for users to understand how social media platforms collect their information and how much is used to tailor ads.
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