The U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued orders to Amazon.com Inc., Google’s YouTube and Facebook, among others, as it launched a study into the data practices of technology platforms.
The FTC is seeking documents from nine social media and video companies that detail how they collect, use and present personal information, according to a statement Monday.
The agency is also asking about the companies’ advertising and user engagement practices, and how their practices affect children and teens.
The FTC is issuing the orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which authorizes it to conduct wide-ranging studies that don’t have a specific law enforcement purpose.
The orders are also being sent to ByteDance, which operates the short video service TikTok, Discord, Reddit, Snap, Twitter and Facebook’s WhatsApp. The companies will have 45 days from the date they received the order to respond.
