The company has agreed to pay the largest penalty in the history of United States for the settlement of data privacy claims.
It also to implement advanced measures for protection of user data
Facebook, one of the largest social media platforms and networking service companies has agreed to pay $5 billion as a settlement amount concerning issues about data privacy claims of users. This is reported to be the biggest ever imposed penalty in a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) case and amongst other largest civil penalties ever obtained.
As per authentic sources, in a complaint filed recently, the United States had alleged that Facebook had violated the administrative orders issued by Federal Trade Commission in 2012 by misguiding its users — till the extent to which the third-party app developers could access their personal data. The complaint further cited that the company violated the FTC Act by tricking the users about how the data is used, and other sensitive information.
In a specified order generated with the complaint, Facebook has accepted to settle the allegations by paying a hefty amount of $5 billion civil penalty and ensuring to implement the robust and advanced measures which is expected to bring a change in Facebook’s priorities and user privacy approaches. Reportedly, the new measures would include appointment of an assessor to keep a check on Facebook's conduct, privacy reviews for all Facebook products, new Privacy Committee, annual compliance certifications by Mark Zuckerberg (CEO), and various other reporting and recording requirements.
Jody Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice's Civil Division was reportedly quoted saying that the department has been committed to securing user data and ensuring that social media companies do not misguide users about the use of their personal information. The FTC Chairman Joe Simons also stated that the penalty to Facebook was designed not only to punish the previous violations but to change the platform's entire privacy culture to decrease the continued violations.
Facebook has apparently not commented on the settlement issue so far.
Source credit: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/facebook-agrees-pay-5-billion-and-implement-robust-new-protections-user-information
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