FTC wants to ban Meta from profiting from data of minors

The US FTC has proposed changes to its privacy order with Meta. The regulator wants, among other things, to prevent Meta from monetizing the data of minors. According to the FTC, Meta has not kept certain privacy promises.

The Federal Trade Commission claims in a press release that Meta has violated the privacy order of the supervisory authority closed with Facebook in 2020 due to Meta’s role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The company also allegedly violated U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act regulations.

The FTC alleges, among other things, that Meta misled parents about the ability to monitor who their children communicated with through its Messenger Kids app. The company also allegedly misrepresented the access some app developers were given to user data. “Facebook has repeatedly violated its privacy promises,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The company’s recklessness has put young users at risk, and Facebook must answer for its failures.”

As part of the proposed changes, Meta will be prohibited from profiting from data it collects from users under the age of eighteen. It would also require explicit user consent for future use of facial recognition technology. Furthermore, Meta would not be allowed to market new or modified products, services or features without written approval from an independent privacy reviewer, which monitors Meta’s compliance with the 2020 FTC privacy order. The new rules would apply to all subsidiaries of the company, including Facebook, Instagram, Oculus, WhatsApp and companies that Meta acquires in the future.

In a statement Meta calls the FTC’s proposal ‘a political stunt’. The company states that the FTC is based on “events that occurred and were made public years ago.” When assessing the privacy order, only ‘the first six months of a twenty-year agreement’ was taken into account. The company further states that it has not violated the agreement and is contesting the FTC’s proposal.

The FTC found the alleged violations following an independent reviewer’s investigation into the privacy protections Meta offers. That evaluator was set up in 2020 to monitor whether Meta’s privacy policy meets the FTC’s standards. The evaluator found “several gaps and weaknesses” in the company’s privacy program, according to the regulator. Meta has thirty days to respond to the findings. The FTC will then vote on whether to approve the new rules.