• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, January 18, 2021
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

US Hits Facebook with Record $5 bn Fine in Privacy Probe

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
07/24/19
in National
Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the F8 summit in San Francisco, California, on March 25, 2015. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

U.S. regulators on Wednesday slapped a record $5 billion fine on Facebook for privacy violations in a settlement requiring the world’s biggest social network to “submit to new restrictions and a modified corporate structure.”

The Federal Trade Commission said the penalty was the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers’ privacy and one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the U.S. government for any violation.

“Despite repeated promises to its billions of users worldwide that they could control how their personal information is shared, Facebook undermined consumers’ choices,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said.

“The magnitude of the $5 billion penalty and sweeping conduct relief are unprecedented in the history of the FTC. The relief is designed not only to punish future violations but, more importantly, to change Facebook’s entire privacy culture to decrease the likelihood of continued violations.”

The agreement establishes an independent privacy committee within Facebook’s board of directors, “removing unfettered control by Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg over decisions affecting user privacy,” the FTC statement said.

Two commissioners of the five-member FTC dissented in the settlement, saying the penalty was insufficient.

“The proposed settlement does little to change the business model or practices that led to the recidivism,” FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra said.

“The settlement imposes no meaningful changes to the company’s structure or financial incentives, which led to these violations. Nor does it include any restrictions on the company’s mass surveillance or advertising tactics.”

Facebook lawyer Colin Stretch said the agreement “will require a fundamental shift in the way we approach our work and it will place additional responsibility on people building our products at every level of the company.”

In a separate agreement with stock market regulators, Facebook agreed to pay a $100 million penalty for making “misleading disclosures regarding the risk of misuse of Facebook user data” in an investigation into the hijacking of data by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

“We allege that Facebook exacerbated its disclosure failures when it misled reporters who asked the company about its investigation into Cambridge Analytica,” said Erin Schneider, head of the regional enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The U.S. Justice Department has also announced it will launch a sweeping probe into the practices of leading online platforms, social networks, search engines and e-commerce services.

While the department did not specify targets, it appeared certain that it would be investigating Facebook, Google, and Amazon.


More on the Subject 

Governments Must Regulate Social Networks: Facebook Executive

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

A woman checks her phone as she shelters under an umbrella in the rain on Oxford Street in London on June 18, 2020, as some non-essential retailers reopen from their coronavirus shutdown.
Opinion

Tech’s Dominant Power Undermines Our Human Right to Privacy

by Michael Kleinman
July 28, 2020
Facebook logo
Opinion

Diverse World, One Internet: How to Regulate Online Extremist Content?

by Dan Jerker B. Svantesson
October 3, 2019
Facebook logo
Business

Governments Must Regulate Social Networks: Facebook Executive

by Staff Writer
June 24, 2019
US House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff.
Featured

US Lawmakers Weigh ‘Deepfake’ Concerns With First Amendment Rights

by Douglas Soule
June 13, 2019
Mark Zuckerberg
Business

Facebook Plans Cryptocurrency Launch Next Year: BBC

by Staff Writer
May 24, 2019
Mark Zuckerberg
National

Facebook to Fund Research on Social Media Impact on Elections

by Staff Writer
April 29, 2019
Next Post
Sri Lankan motorcyclists ride past a poster of Mahinda Rajapakse's after he was sworn in as prime minister in Colombo on October 27, 2018

'Foreign Interference:' Sri Lanka Blocks UN Meeting with Judges

Libyan coast guard on a ship full of migrants.

The Unacknowledged Costs of the EU's Migration Policy in Libya

Recommended

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

UN Rights Office Urges Navalny’s Immediate Release

January 18, 2021
The filing was submitted by Justice Department lawyers on Thursday, January 14.

US Rioters Sought to ‘Capture and Assassinate’ Lawmakers at Capitol: Prosecutors

January 15, 2021
Biden proposes raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Biden Unveils $1.9 Tn Economic Plan as US Recovery Buckles

January 14, 2021
Senegalese soldiers from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, July 24, 2019.

UN Peacekeeper Killed in Mali, Seven Wounded: Spokesman

January 13, 2021
President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.

Threatening Democracy: The Choice Between Progress and Extremism Has Never Been So Clear

January 13, 2021
Jake Angeli speaks to a US Capitol Police officer.

American Democracy Will Prevail

January 13, 2021

Opinion

President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.

Threatening Democracy: The Choice Between Progress and Extremism Has Never Been So Clear

January 13, 2021
Jake Angeli speaks to a US Capitol Police officer.

American Democracy Will Prevail

January 13, 2021
Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.

Riots at Capitol Hill: Darkness Before the Dawn?

January 8, 2021
Volunteers are given the Moderna vaccine on August 5, 2020, in Detroit, Michigan.

Who’s First-in-Line for the Vaccine? A Classic Problem in Medical Ethics

December 30, 2020
A sorghum farmer inspects her small grains crop thriving in the dry conditions in March in the Mutoko rural area of Zimbabwe

The 10-Year Food Systems Revolution Must Start Now

December 22, 2020
Playing the Un-Naming Game in New York Is Harder Than It Seems

Pandenomics: The High Cost of Living While Undocumented in the United States

December 22, 2020
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post