US Accuses Social Media Giants Of 'Vast Surveillance'

US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan says that targeted ads, while lucrative for social media companies, threaten privacy and expose people to potential harm such as stalking (Credit: AFP)

A years-long analysis shows that social media titans engaged in "vast surveillance" to make money from people's personal information, according to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

A report based on queries launched nearly four years ago aimed at nine companies found they collected troves of data, sometimes through data brokers, and could indefinitely retain the information collected about users and non-users of their platforms.