Given the billions of dollars companies stand to earn from collecting and monetizing user data, “self-regulation has been a failure,” the report says. “Predicting, shaping, and monetizing human behavior through commercial surveillance is extremely profitable — it’s made these companies some of the most valuable on the planet — and putting industry in charge has had predictable results.”

The problem, the report finds, lies not with one particular company’s business model but with industrywide incentive structures that reward harvesting, collecting, and monetizing user data. “While lucrative for the companies, these surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms” like identity theft and stalking,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. “Several firms’ failure to adequately protect kids and teens online is especially troubling.”