Facebook will be fined $5 billion
The Federal Trade Commission is expected to hit Facebook with a record-setting $5 billion fine for its alleged privacy mishaps, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that commissioners voted this week to approve the settlement with the social network.
The Republican majority favored the settlement, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The settlement, which still has to be finalized by the US Justice Department’s civil division, would be larger than the record-setting $22.5 million the FTC imposed on Google in 2012.
The FTC started investigating Facebook last year after revelations surfaced that Cambridge Analytica, a UK political consultancy, accessed data from up to 87 million Facebook users without their permission.
Robert Weissman, the president of consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen, said the reported settlement would let Facebook off the hook too easily.