The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is facing US$5 billion fine. (Image via: Mashable)

Official! US$5 Billion Fine for Facebook

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Internet & IT
Jul 13, 2019
1853
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a US$5 billion fine on Facebook. The decision came after a thorough investigation that Facebook inappropriately shared personal information of its 87 million users to Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm.

The investigation began in March 2018 since Cambridge Analytica was caught possessing illegal information of 50 million Facebook users. FTC then discussed whether the fact breached the 2011 agreement between Facebook and FTC regarding the security of privacy for Facebook users.

On Friday (12/7) afternoon, FTC took votes and the result was 3-2 for the fine approval. The majority of the votes were held by Republicans. Democrats opposed the fine. Since the vote has been decided, the Justice Department is expected to settle the fine as soon as next week. For the settlement, it will possibly include on how Facebook should treat the privacy of its users in the future.

The fine is the biggest fine ever slapped on a tech company due to privacy invasion. However, for Facebook, the fine might be a breeze since it gains revenue US$56 billion last year, in spite of the lofty amount. Therefore, for David Cicilline, a Democrat, the fine will not lead Facebook to repentance, especially by the fact that Facebook shares went up by 1.8% despite the fine. Cicilline referred to the fine as “slap on the wrist” and “mosquito bite” for Facebook.

This was not the first fine for Facebook’s scandal with Cambridge Analytica. The UK’s information commission slapped £500,000 fine on Facebook for failing to protect the privacy of its users. Later on, the information was allegedly used to win the 2016 U.S. Presidential candidate, Donald Trump.

Aftermath the fine approval, both Facebook and FTC did not give any further comment. But all the U.S. Congress members agreed on one thing: Facebook should keep the privacy of its users better and if FTC and Facebook fail to do that, then Congress will interfere.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/us-regulator-approves-5bn-fine-for-facebook-report-11762157

Business , Industry , Technology , Social-Media , Facebook , U.S. , UK , Privacy , Mark-Zuckerberg