Facebook to Pay $5 Billion Fine to Settle FTC Privacy Investigation

The settlement will put an end to a wide-ranging probe that
began more than a year ago and centers around the violation of a
2011 agreement Facebook made with the FTC that required Facebook to
gain explicit consent from users to share their personal
data.

The FTC launched an investigation into the social media giant last
year after it was revealed that the company allowed Cambridge
Analytica access to the
personal data of around 87 million Facebook
users without their explicit consent.

Now, according to a new report^[4] published by the Wall
Street Journal, the FTC commissioners this week finally voted to
approve a $5 billion settlement, with three Republicans voting to
approve the deal and two Democrats against it.

Facebook anticipated the
fine^[5] to between $3 billion
and $5 billion and already had set aside $3 billion for the fine
this spring when the company released its first quarter 2019
financial earnings report.

Despite all criticisms
Facebook recently faced
over its mishandling of
users’ data, the company’s earnings and user base are
continually increasing, with Facebook bringing in over $15 billion
in revenue for the first quarter of 2019 alone. The social media
network also added 39 million daily active users to its
platform.
^[6][7][8]

Though the $5 billion fine amounts to just one month’s worth of
Facebook’s revenue, it is the biggest fine imposed by FTC till the
date, far bigger than the $22.5 million fine levied against Google
in 2012 for allegedly violating an agreement to improve privacy
practices.

Not just FTC, UK’s Information Commissioner Office (ICO) has
also imposed £500,000 (over
$628,000) fine on Facebook^[10] over the Cambridge
Analytica scandal.

^[1][2][3]