FTC 6(b) social-media data-practices study naming Reddit (2020–2024)
2020–2024
Reddit was one of nine companies ordered by the FTC to disclose its data practices for a sweeping 6(b) study; the 2024 staff report found pervasive surveillance of users and weak protections for children and teens across the industry.
What happened
In December 2020 the Federal Trade Commission used its Section 6(b) special-report authority to order nine major social-media and video-streaming companies — Reddit among them — to provide detailed information about how they collect, use, and monetize user data. The orders were part of a broad market study rather than an enforcement action against any single company, but Reddit's inclusion put it squarely within a landmark regulatory examination of the data economy.
After nearly four years of analysis, the FTC published its staff report on 19 September 2024, titled 'A Look Behind the Screens: Examining the Data Practices of Social Media and Video Streaming Services.' Adopted by a unanimous Commission, the report concluded that the companies engaged in what it described as 'vast surveillance' of users, practiced inadequate data minimization, and offered weak protections for children and teenagers. It described an industry built on the large-scale collection and retention of personal information, often without meaningful limits.
The report did not single Reddit out for unique wrongdoing; rather, it treated the studied companies as representative of industry-wide practices. Still, being named as one of the nine subjects of a major FTC study is significant, and the findings reflect data practices that the report attributed to the group as a whole. This matter is distinct from the separate, non-public FTC inquiry into Reddit's licensing of user content for AI training.
The report drew a mixed reception. Privacy advocates welcomed it as authoritative documentation of how deeply platforms surveil their users, while some industry-aligned critics argued that the report rested on contestable assumptions and over-generalized across very different business models. That debate notwithstanding, the report stands as an official government assessment of the data practices of the platforms it studied.
For an archive of Reddit-related regulatory matters, the 6(b) study is meaningful because it represents formal FTC scrutiny of Reddit's data handling, separate from any consumer-protection enforcement. It situates Reddit within the broader regulatory reckoning over surveillance advertising and the treatment of minors' data, and it provides verifiable, primary-source documentation of that scrutiny.