What are third-party services?
Third-party services are web-based technologies that are not exclusively operated or controlled by a government entity or that involve significant participation of a nongovernment entity. The FTC uses third-party services to assist it in communicating or interacting with the public. These services may be separate websites or may be applications embedded within FTC websites. Some third parties provide these services to the FTC under contract, while others, such as social media sites, do not. Where practicable, we will provide clear notice before you are directed to a third-party service from an FTC website.
Privacy Information Regarding Third-Party Services
When interacting with the FTC through a third-party service, the third-party service provider’s privacy policies apply. The following table lists the third-party services currently used by the FTC and provides links to the privacy policies of each third-party service provider. In addition, the table provides links to the FTC’s privacy impact assessment (PIA) for each service. Please note that some services are assessed as part of a larger project and do not have their own PIA, and in other circumstances, a PIA may not be required at all. Generally, the FTC does not collect, disseminate, or maintain any personally identifiable information (PII) that you make available through these services, except as specified in this table.
The information that the FTC collects and shares through cookies is anonymous and not personally identifiable.
| Third Party Service | Third Party Service Provider’s Privacy Policy | FTC’s Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), if required | Does the FTC collect, disseminate or maintain any PII made available through this service? |
| Facebook Privacy Impact Assessment | The FTC may collect comments when hosting an interactive Facebook chat, answering questions, or broadcasting an event, but makes every reasonable attempt to remove any names prior to preserving Agency records. | ||
| Google Analytics | Not required. See the for more information about privacy and Google Analytics. | No. | |
| GovDelivery | GovDelivery Communications Cloud Privacy Impact Assessment | Email address or name, mailing address, and organization name (optional) will be collected and maintained from users who subscribe to FTC newsletters. | |
| LinkedIn Privacy Impact Assessment | No, applicants must apply for openings through official channels such as USAjobs.gov. | ||
Redress Management:
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| In routine redress matters, the following information is used: first and last name, business name (if needed), unique claimant ID, street address, city, state, postal code, country, home phone number, work phone number, email address, transaction data, transaction dates, product type, company selling product, customer number, customer account number, loss amount, and notes of claimant contact, including any subsequent change requests, updates, corrections, etc. In rare instances, Social Security numbers (SSNs), Tax ID numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and/or bank names may also be collected and used, only when no other key identifier is available. | |
| X (Twitter) | Twitter Privacy Impact Assessment | The "handles" (user names) of news agencies and professional journalists reporting on FTC-related subjects may be collected and maintained. In addition, the handle of any user may be collected and maintained if @FTC, @laFTC, @TechFTC, @MilConsumer, @LinaKhanFTC. and @RKSlaughterFTC, interacts with the user during an interactive chat or answers questions the user directed to FTC Twitter accounts. | |
| Qualtrics | The FTC does not intend to collect any PII and the survey instructions expressly discourage respondents from including any in response to the questions with open comment fields; however, the system cannot prevent respondents from doing so. | ||
| Vimeo | No. The FTC may collect general analytics such as number of viewers watching live webcasts and videos and length of time watched. | ||
| YouTube | YouTube Privacy Impact Assessment | No. |
Last updated: July 2024