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Internet privacy issues go beyond what you choose to post. Services may collect information about your activity, obtain data from outside sources, share it with other companies, and use it for advertising or automated systems. You can reduce some risks by limiting what you share, reviewing account settings and permissions, and securing your accounts—but no single setting makes you private across the internet.
What internet privacy issues involve
Internet privacy is not one threat or one setting. It concerns what information a service collects, how long it keeps it, who receives it, and how the information is used. The Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 staff report examined selected social media and video-streaming services. It was based on company responses to FTC orders issued in 2020, so it is evidence about those examined services and that study process—not a rating of every platform or a description of every industry worldwide.
The FTC report found that the examined services collected large amounts of information and could retain it indefinitely. Collection could include data from brokers and information about people who did not have accounts, as well as information users supplied or generated through their activity. FTC Chair Lina M. Khan described the practices as companies harvesting personal data and monetizing it; she also warned that such practices can expose people to harms including identity theft and stalking. Those are risks she identified, not outcomes that happen to every user.
Which privacy risks matter most?
Collection and retention beyond what you post
A profile or post is only one possible source of information. Services may also gather activity data, receive information from third parties or data brokers, and collect information about non-users. The FTC report said the examined companies could retain large amounts of data indefinitely. That can make it difficult to know what a service still holds or whether deleting a post removes associated information.
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Cross-site tracking and targeted advertising
Tracking technologies, including pixels, can help connect activity across websites or services and support advertising based on inferred preferences and interests. A person may therefore see ads shaped by activity they did not deliberately publish as a post or profile detail.
Sharing and automated uses
Companies may share data with third parties or use it in analytics, algorithms, and AI-related systems. The FTC report described limited or no user ability to opt out of some uses in automated systems. A privacy control may therefore cover one kind of sharing or personalization without stopping every other use.
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Scams tailored with personal information
Public details can help a scammer make a pitch feel familiar or credible. Social platforms also give scammers ways to target ads by factors such as age, interests, or shopping habits. FTC data released in April 2026 found that nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to a scam in 2025 said it began on social media; those reported losses totaled $2.1 billion, an eightfold increase since 2020. These are figures from consumer reports, not estimates of every scam or every loss.
The same FTC release said reported 2025 losses to investment scams originating on social media totaled $1.1 billion. More than 40% of people who lost money to a social-media scam said they had ordered something they saw in a social-media ad, and nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam said it started on a social platform. Each figure describes people who reported losses in 2025; it does not measure all incidents.
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Account compromise and personal safety
Stolen or exposed information can contribute to identity theft, unwanted contact, stalking, or image-based abuse. A compromised account can also give someone access to private messages or a trusted profile they can misuse to approach the account holder’s contacts. These harms have different causes and remedies, so account security and careful sharing both matter.
Why children and teens need separate safeguards
The FTC’s 2024 report said the examined services did not adequately protect children and teens. It found that many services treated teens like adults and often allowed teen accounts without restrictions. The report’s findings apply to the services it examined, not every service used by young people.
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In the United States, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) governs certain collection of personal information from children under 13 by covered online services. The FTC’s COPPA topic page describes a December 2025 court-approved order requiring Disney to pay $10 million to settle FTC allegations about collecting children’s data from kid-directed YouTube videos without parental notice or consent as required by COPPA. This is a U.S. enforcement example, not a universal rule or a finding about all video content.
Parents and caregivers can review a child’s account audience, contact options, app permissions, and available age-related controls together. For teens, discuss what personal details could make a stranger’s approach more convincing, and how to ask for help if someone pressures them to share information or images.
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How to assess a platform’s privacy controls
There is no FTC privacy score for platforms. When comparing services or reviewing one you already use, examine the same practical dimensions rather than relying on a single privacy label:
- Data collected: What information comes from your activity, profile, device, or outside sources? Does the service collect information about non-users?
- Retention and deletion: How long does the service keep data? What does account or content deletion remove, and what may remain?
- Sharing: Which third parties receive information, and for what purposes?
- Tracking and advertising: Does the service use tracking technologies or information from elsewhere to personalize ads?
- Automated use: Is information used in recommendations, analytics, algorithms, or AI-related systems? Can you opt out of particular uses?
- User control: Can you change visibility, limit collection, delete information, or opt out—and does each control clearly explain what it affects?
- Safeguards for young people: Are there age-appropriate defaults and restrictions, and can parents or guardians manage relevant settings?
Read the service’s privacy explanation alongside its controls: a setting called “private,” for example, may limit who sees posts without limiting all data collection or third-party sharing.
What you can do to reduce exposure
- Limit who can see your posts and contacts. Visit your privacy settings and review the audience for posts, profile details, and contact lists. The exact menu names and options vary by service.
- Share fewer identifying details publicly. Consider whether a post reveals your location, routine, financial interests, travel plans, or information that could help someone impersonate you or tailor a scam.
- Review app permissions. In your device settings, check which apps can access items such as location, contacts, camera, or microphone. Remove access that is not needed for the app’s function; menus and permission choices vary by device and operating system.
- Secure accounts with strong authentication. Use a strong, unique password for each account and turn on two-factor authentication where available. A compatible physical security key is one optional way to add a second factor; it does not prevent tracking, profiling, data-broker collection, or a service-provider breach.
- Verify before sending money or buying. Do not take investment direction from someone you know only through social media. Check a seller or business independently before purchasing, rather than relying only on an ad or profile.
- Report suspected fraud. Stop communicating or paying if you suspect a scam, preserve relevant messages or transaction details, and report the suspected fraud to the FTC.
These actions can reduce particular exposures, but they cannot undo a service’s broader collection or sharing practices. The FTC’s privacy guidance also emphasizes limiting data access and using authentication as relevant safeguards.
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What these steps cannot guarantee
Changing an audience setting can restrict visibility without stopping a platform from collecting information for its own purposes. Removing an app permission limits that app’s access to the permission in question; it does not erase data already collected or control information another service has received. Strong authentication makes unauthorized account access harder, but it does not stop advertising profiles or tracking technologies. The FTC material discussed here does not establish comparative privacy scores for platforms or show that any single product or tool prevents the collection and sharing described above.
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