Facebook fined $5 billion by US Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations, brings rigorous new privacy standards

The US Federal Trade Commission has fined Facebook a whopping $US 5 billion for violating a 2012 FTC order on consumers’ privacy. It is is the largest ever imposed on any company for privacy violations and almost 20 times greater than the largest privacy or data security penalty ever imposed worldwide. The order by FTC will require Facebook to restructure its approach to privacy from the corporate board-level down and establish strong new mechanisms to ensure that the company's executives are accountable for the decisions they make about privacy. Facebook undermined consumers’ choices despite promises that users could control how their personal information is shared on the social media platform. According to the investigation by FTC, Facebook used "deceptive disclosure and settings" and this allowed the company to share users’ personal information with third-party apps that were downloaded by the user’s Facebook friends while the users were unaware that Facebook was sharing such information. FTC has also imposed a set of requirements on Facebook that is aimed at increasing transparency and accountability and privacy at Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The order by FTC imposes new privacy requirements and here are how things will change at Facebook: Facebook must exercise greater oversight over third-party apps, including by terminating ...