Facebook Could Be Fined Up To $5 Billion Over Privacy Violations

Facebook expects to face a massive fine of up to $5 billion
from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the result of an
investigation into its privacy policies—that’s about one month’s
revenue for the social media giant.

To be clear the amount of fine is not what the FTC has announced
or hinted yet; instead, it’s an estimated due that Facebook
disclosed on Wednesday in its first quarter
2019^[1] financial earnings
report.

In its earnings report, Facebook said the company had set $3
billion aside in anticipation of the settlement with the FTC, who
launched a probe into Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica
scandal.
^[2]

The probe centers around the violation of a 2011 agreement Facebook
made with the FTC that required the social media to gain explicit
consent from users to share their data.

The FTC launched an investigation into Facebook last year after
it was revealed that the company allowed Cambridge Analytica
access to the
personal data^[3]
of around 50 million Facebook
users^[4] without their explicit
consent.

Now, both parties are nearing a settlement, with Facebook
anticipating the fine to between $3 billion and $5 billion.

If Facebook agrees, the fine will be a record for the FTC, which
has never imposed such a massive fine on any tech company till the
date and represents one month’s revenue for the social media
giant.
UK’s Information Commissioner Office (ICO) has also imposed £500,000 fine on
Facebook^[5] over the Cambridge
Analytica scandal.

The FTC fine on Facebook will also surpass the $22.5 million
civil penalties Google paid in 2012 to settle FTC charges for
allegedly violating an agreement to improve privacy practices.

While the FTC fine is another big hit to the company, the good
news is that Facebook brought in more than $15 billion in revenue
in the first quarter of 2019 alone. Besides this, Facebook also
added 39 million daily active users to its platform.