Free Press Action urges for federal policy makers to safeguard digital privacy in the US

Free Press Action has published a report titled ‘Insatiable: The Tech Industry’s Quest for All Our Data.’ This research investigates the data-collection policies of emerging social media platforms and urges for stricter digital privacy protections for all Americans.

While researching the way data collection policies of platforms Bluesky, Mastodon, and Meta’s Threads, Free Press Action has concluded that if policymakers don’t take a more stern approach, unregulated and profit-driven collection of data will continue to infringe on users’ digital civil rights.

Free Press Action’s analysis highlights the urgent need for regulatory oversight to protect digital privacy and curb corporations’ interest in collecting personal data. This issue bears even more urgency as the White House addresses privacy concerns linked to AI and as tech companies revise their terms of service and privacy policies to broaden how they can train AI models using different kinds of personal data. Jenna Ruddock, Policy Counsel at Free Press Action, claims that even if users read the terms and conditions diligently, they still would not comprehend the full extent and ways in which their data will be processed across different websites and apps.

Ruddock also emphasised the importance of comprehensive federal privacy regulations. She points out that even though Bluesky and Matadon have been praised for having a more improved data-driven business model in comparison to Mate, YouTube, X, and TikTok, the research shows that privacy infringement will remain a concern until there is an established set of rules to regulate it, at a federal level.