It comes after the FTC and state attorneys general filed antitrust charges against Facebook last week.
FTC commissioners said the review seeks to uncover what companies know about their users, as well as how they process that data and make inferences about user interests and interactions. The study will focus specifically on how children and families are targeted and categorized, as privacy advocates call for greater protections for young users online.
The probe garnered bipartisan support among the agency’s commissioners. Democratic Commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Republican Commissioner Christine Wilson released a joint statement stating the review would bring greater transparency to the operations of major tech companies.
“Policymakers and the public are in the dark about what social media and video streaming services do to capture and sell users’ data and attention,” the commissioners said in the statement. “It is alarming that we still know so little about companies that know so much about us.”
The broad nature of the FTC’s requests underscores how the techlash isn’t just affecting Silicon Valley’s largest companies.
It’s a reminder that efforts to regulate social media and create broader privacy protections will have far-reaching consequences beyond just Facebook and Google, and have major implications for a host of companies that have more-niche audiences or are rapidly growing with younger users.
“By engaging in research with industry participants and soliciting public input, the FTC strengthens its ability to assess the dynamics of the complex social media and video streaming industry in thoughtful and measured ways,” the commissioners said in the statement.
The FTC has previously used such legal authority to learn more about other industries in which there are concerns about consumer harms, such as tobacco or health care. These studies can often foreshadow greater regulatory enforcement or inform policymaking in Congress. The agency launched a similar study earlier this year focused on acquisitions in the tech sector. Last week, it filed an antitrust suit against Facebook that focused on its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and called on the courts to force Facebook to divest from those businesses.
The data request comes as lawmakers have criticized the agency for not doing enough to rein in companies for privacy violations, especially affecting children.
Democratic lawmakers and privacy advocates praised the FTC for launching the study, but said the move was long overdue. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, praised the review as “an important step in bringing sunlight to what has far too long been an opaque market.”
In May, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), wrote to the FTC urging it to launch an investigation into children’s data practices.
The orders are a victory for child-privacy advocates, who called on the FTC to take action a year ago.
“The FTC is finally holding the social media and online video giants accountable, by requiring leading companies to reveal how they stealthily gather and use information that impacts our privacy and autonomy,” Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said in a statement. “It is especially important the commission is concerned about also protecting teens — who are the targets of a sophisticated and pervasive marketing system designed to influence their behaviors for monetization purposes.”
However, one Republican on FTC opposed the review.
Republican Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips voted against the study, saying that he believed the requests were overly broad and unlikely to elicit useful information.
Our top tabs
California is suing Amazon to force the company to hand over data about how the coronavirus has hit its warehouses.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) accused the e-commerce giant of dragging its feet to provide data on coronavirus infections and safety measures that his office has been requesting since May, Jay Greene reports.
“If the Attorney General is to meaningfully take steps to try to quell the rampant and lethal wildfire-like spread of SARS-CoV-2 among California workers, he requires more than the limited data produced and broad assurances that Amazon is complying with its own internal policies and procedures,” according to the suit, which was filed in Sacramento County Superior Court.
The lawsuit details months of back and forth between Becerra and the company. It cites media reports of workers dying from covid-19 at three California warehouses. Amazon failed to mention the deaths, the lawsuit says.
Becerra, who is President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to serve as the nation’s top health official, issued a subpoena in August demanding Amazon comply with his office’s requests. The lawsuit asks a judge to enforce the order.
Amazon has been “working cooperatively” with Becerra’s office and has taken steps to protect workers, spokeswoman Jodi Seth said in an emailed statement. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Amazon said in October that more than 19,000 of its workers had contracted the coronavirus.
Pinterest will pay $22.5 million to settle its former chief operating officer’s gender discrimination lawsuit.
Former top executive Francoise Brougher sued the company in August for allegedly paying her less than her male peers and engaging in other gender-biased treatment, Nitasha Tiku reports.
The settlement is the largest publicly announced individual settlement for gender discrimination in U.S. history, said David Lowe, Brougher’s lawyer.
Pinterest did not admit to liability as part of the settlement.
“Pinterest recognizes the importance of fostering a workplace environment that is diverse, equitable and inclusive and will continue its actions to improve its culture,” Pinterest and Brougher said in a joint statement to The Washington Post. Brougher and Pinterest will jointly donate $2.5 million to groups that work to advance women and underrepresented groups in tech by the end of the year.
The company faces a separate wave of gender and racial discrimination allegations after two Black female former public policy officials, Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks, alleged the company retaliated against them after raising concerns about racism and pay equity. Company executives face a lawsuit from investors alleging they enabled race and gender-based discrimination.
Uber and DoorDash are raising prices in California to fund driver benefits.
The cost increases follow a decision by California voters to pass a ballot measure that exempts the companies from California’s gig-worker employment law, Lizette Chapman reports. In lieu of being legally required to provide gig workers benefits guaranteed to employees, the companies will introduce a health-care subsidy and other portable benefits for workers.
The new law also requires the companies to pay a minimum earning based on the time they spend fulfilling a gig.
Spokespeople for Instacart and Lyft, which also funded the $200 million ballot initiative, declined to say whether they would raise prices to pay for the benefits. Uber and Lyft are trying to use the ballot initiative as a blueprint for similar laws in other states.
Though California voters overwhelmingly passed the ballot initiative, Prop 22, labor advocates and workers accused the companies of using deceptive practices to push through the measure.
Hill watch
A senator is calling on Netflix and other top streaming services to provide free service to keep people home during the holidays.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) yesterday sent letters urging six major streaming services to consider making shows and movies available to nonsubscribers as a “public service,” my colleague Antonia Noori Farzan reports.
“We believe that your companies are in a unique position to help families cope with the effects of this health emergency on typical holiday traditions,” King wrote in a letter to top executives at Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Apple and Warner Brothers. (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
He noted this could alleviate widespread financial distress during the pandemic and could further incentivize people to follow public health guidance.
Inside the industry
California regulators fined Uber $59 million for failing to comply with state regulations on reporting sexual assault.
Uber failed to provide information on sexual assault and harassment claims requested by California’s public utilities regulator, Reuters reports. Uber’s permit to operate could be revoked if it fails to pay the penalty in 30 days.
Uber said it refused to provide the information on the grounds of victim privacy.
The California Public Utilities Commission “has been insistent in its demands that we release the full names and contact information of sexual assault survivors without their consent,” Uber said in a statement. “We opposed this shocking violation of privacy, alongside many victims’ rights advocates.”
CPUC has agreed to accepting anonymous data, but Uber will still have to pay the fine.
TikTok strengthened its community guidelines to put greater limits on harassment.
The popular video streaming company announced new guidelines that are more explicit about the types of content and behaviors that aren’t allowed on TikTok, including doxxing, cyberstalking, and a more extensive policy against sexual harassment.
The company also announced new product updates, including new prompts for people searching for terms related to self harm.
TikTok will also expand its coronavirus resource center in the coming weeks to include the latest information about vaccines.
Rant and rave
A smart mirror just went to the top of our Christmas lists. It caught Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian’s eye, too.
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Daybook
- Washington Post Live will hold a virtual event on the future of work with Slack chief executive Stewart Butterfield and Box CEO Aaron Levie on Tuesday at 12:15 p.m.
