CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — We all know that person who swore up and down their phone and social-media apps are listening to them.
And no, the Federal Trade Commission is listening, too, releasing a scathing report revealing what many have long suspected.
The key take away, said Carlos Rubio-Medrano, is that the government has finally recognized this as a major problem.
The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi asst. professor of Computer Science who specializes in cyber security said social media apps, and even video streaming companies, are building a fingerprint on everything you like, view, and search, in what the FTC is calling a "vast surveillance," putting your privacy at risk.
"The big danger is the loss of privacy, right? They certainly know what kind of things we are doing on the web," he said.
Privacy-invasive tracking technology he said can lead to the misuse of that data.
The report stated these companies monetize that personal information by basically selling it to targeted advertising, and that translates to billions of dollars a year.
"All of this is done without you knowing about it, we all have the right to do all of these things in private," Medrano said.
The staff report is based on information obtained by nine companies that include Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (now X), Snap, TikTok, Discord, Reddit, WhatsApp.
"I think its a little creepy, and an invasion of privacy, but what can I do?" said A&M-CC student Rylee Evers. "I need to be on my social media."
The FTC stated the social media and video streaming services, "didn't adequately protect children and teens on their sites."
Medrano said it's important for parents to know what kind of social-media sites their children are using.
"And important to let them know the use of these sites may be dangerous," he said.
The report comes as state and federal lawmakers consider new privacy laws.
The FTC is encouraging Congress to pass comprehensive legislation to limit surveillance.