FTC fines Facebook $5 billion, imposes new privacy oversight

Enlarge / The company can afford to shrug it off. (credit: Justin Sullivan | Getty Images)

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a long-rumored, record-smashing $5 billion settlement with Facebook over allegations related to user privacy.

The fine is high, and the settlement demands more privacy oversight at the company. But what the deal does not do is find anyone, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, personally responsible, nor does it mandate huge changes to the way Facebook collects dataa-only to the way it makes disclosures and honors user settings.

Facebook repeatedly "subverted users' privacy choices to serve its own business interests," the FTC said in the order (PDF). The company's actions violated a previous settlement requiring Facebook to adhere to certain privacy guidelines.

Read 31 remaining paragraphs | Comments