Federal Trade Commission has approved a roughly $5 billion fine against Facebook for privacy violati

[leroux]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reportedly approved a $5 billion settlement with Facebook on Friday following the social media giant’s handling of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This serves as the largest fine the FTC has given out for privacy violations; however, politicians and activists have said that this fine serves as a “bargain” for Facebook.

The Wall Street Journal cited a person familiar with the matter, suggesting that the FTC voted 3-2, along party lines, to approve a $5 billion settlement with Facebook

The Journal‘s report said that the FTC settlement will include “government restrictions on how Facebook treats user privacy,” however, it remains unclear what those restrictions entail.

[Shannon]

This Verge article said that while 5 Billion USD is no doubt a big amount, it's trivial for Facebook and the fine might have actualy worked in its favor. One line there summed it up nicely: -

'...the United States government spent months coming up with a punishment for Facebook’s long list of privacy-related bad behavior, and the best it could do was so weak that Facebook’s stock price went up.'

It's appalling. If no conditions are imposed to stop Facebook from collecting and sharing user info, nothing has really been achieved...