Republican FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak published a report on Thursday expressing concern with Big Tech facilitating content harmful to children, but also warning that in addressing such harmful online content, the Biden-Harris FTC could take actions that result in the censorship of Americans’ online speech.
In 2020, during the Trump administration, the FTC issued orders to nine tech companies — Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Snap, Discord, Reddit, Twitter, and Amazon — seeking to examine their data practices and how they operate.
Some of the key findings in the FTC report include revelations that “Companies’ deletion practices varied and may not reflect what consumers expect.” That is, while some companies claim to delete data, they don’t actually follow through with it.
Users might assume that “deletion” means a social media platform has permanently erased their data, but companies have instead been found to “de-identify” data, meaning the data was made anonymous. However, the data could potentially be subject to “re-identification,” the report points out.
Another problematic finding is that companies may have the technical capacity to detect users under age 13, but they often treated teens as adults.
Moreover, kids’ and teen’s data were generally not differentiated from adults’ when shared, and most companies reported that they would not fulfill a parent or legal guardian’s request to delete a teen user’s data.
Other key findings involved companies having difficulty describing the extent of their data collection, and sharing data with foreign entities, which means exposing user data to foreign governments.
The report also found that companies have commonly used automated systems (or increasingly AI) to drive users’ experiences on social media, and that their revenues have relied heavily on advertising, which means that consumers are likely paying for zero-price services with their data and information.
While the Biden-Harris FTC has suggested it would address these issues, Holyoak stressed that she doesn’t support the current administration’s approach, as it may lead to censorship and the suppression of Americans’ online speech.
“I am concerned that such suggestions and recommendations may further limit free speech online, even where the intent is not directly to suppress free speech,” the FTC commissioner stated in her concurring and dissenting statement published Thursday.
“Some of the report’s analysis and recommendations may lead to more censorship or inadvertent suppression of certain content,” Holyoak added. “Other federal officials have shown no qualms about directly pressuring social media companies to suppress content online.”
Holyoak goes on to list three major concerns:
The report may lead to suppression of free speech online.
The report wrongly seeks to regulate through Commission-blessed staff guidance.
Further analysis of the report’s unqualified recommendations is essential.
The FTC commissioner explains that while she is “deeply sympathetic” to the report where “relates to protecting children and teens online or to clearly harmful content,” such as “promoting self-harm,” she “does not endorse any attempt to censor or moderate content based on political views.”
Holyoak also expressed concern with potentially dictating or seeking “to reshape private-sector conduct” as a result of the report’s recommendations, and noted, “There are pivotal factual and policy questions that must still be explored.”
“Before we can conclude the report’s unqualified recommendations would ultimately lead to good outcomes for consumers or competition, more analysis is essential” in order to avoid “circumventing and potentially subverting the public comment process,” the FTC commissioner advises.
“How social media companies view and treat users increasingly shapes civic discourse and determines the extent of Americans’ freedoms to participate in the modern public square,” Holyoak said.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
