What we found
Facebook: F$10 billion in fines. Myanmar genocide. 87 million profiles harvested. Manipulated 700,000 people's emotions as an experiment. The FTC has fined them three times and they're still violating.
Facebook doesn't sell raw databases. Instead, it sells access to audiences defined by that data — ~97% of Meta's ~$135B annual revenue comes from advertising built entirely on user surveillance. Advertisers pay to reach people with specific traits from a catalogue of ~52,000 characteristics Facebook infers about each user. Under California's CCPA, sharing data for targeted advertising legally qualifies as a 'sale.' The distinction between selling your data and selling access to you based on your data is a semantic trick.
TikTok: F'Everything is seen in China.' Keylogger in the browser. Reads your clipboard. Drives teens to suicide content in 20 minutes. Banned by the Supreme Court.
BuzzFeed leaked audio from 80+ meetings: 14 statements confirming China access. 'Everything is seen in China.' Beijing 'Master Admin' with 'access to everything.' DPC fined EUR 530M for storing EU data in China while denying it. TikTok admitted it happened again in 2025.
Instagram: FMeta's own research proved it harms teen girls. They buried it and started building Instagram for kids. 1,867 lawsuits. Families of dead children are suing.
Meta's OWN research (Haugen leak 2021): 32% teen girls said Instagram made body image worse. 13.5% UK teen girls said it worsened suicidal thoughts. 17% said eating disorders worsened. Called 'distinctly worse than other social media.' Building 'Instagram Kids' while sitting on this. 1,867 lawsuits (MDL 3047, July 2025). Wrongful death claims. 33 AGs sued Meta.
Twitter / X: F80% of safety engineers fired. Head of safety smeared and driven from his home. CSAM detection broken. Grok trains on everything you post with no opt-out.
Safety engineers: 279 to 55 (80%). Moderators halved. 62,000 banned accounts reinstated. Yoel Roth smeared with baseless pedophilia accusation by Musk, forced to flee home. Replacement resigned after 7 months. No Head of Safety for over a year. Response times: abusive DMs slowed 70%.
Reddit: FSold 19 years of your posts to Google for AI training. $203 million. The FTC is investigating. You weren't asked.
Signed $203M data licensing deals (Jan 2024) including $60M/yr to Google for Gemini training. 19 years of posts licensed. Users who posted anonymously about addiction, mental health, sexuality had no consent opportunity. CEO Huffman: user data is Reddit's 'key strategic asset' in IPO pitch.
Snapchat: FSnapchat's entire brand was built on a lie.
The FTC found in 2014 that recipients could save snaps via third-party apps, screenshots without triggering notifications, and by connecting devices to computers. Snapchat entered a 20-year consent decree. By 2025-2026, AGs in New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, and Texas all filed lawsuits alleging Snap still deceives users about safety.
Facebook SDK / Meta Pixel: FHospitals installed Facebook's tracking pixel on their websites.
The Markup's "Pixel Hunt" investigation found Meta Pixel and Facebook SDK sending sensitive health data from hospital websites to Facebook — including appointment bookings, medical conditions searched, and doctor names. Tax filing sites sent income data. Crisis hotlines sent call logs. In each case, website operators had installed Facebook's tracking code without understanding what data it collected.
Threads: FThreads' own App Store privacy label — which Meta itself filled out — discloses collection of health data, financial information, precise location, contacts,...
Threads' App Store label discloses collection of health data, financial info, precise location, contacts, browsing/search history, purchases, and sensitive info. Top10VPN found Threads collects 45% more data points than X. Meta's deputy privacy officer said the label isn't fully representative — but Meta itself filled it out.