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The fine should be much heavier than the $ 22.5 million imposed on Google in 2012.
US regulators met to discuss the imposition of a record fine against Facebook for violating a legally binding agreement with the government to protect the privacy of its users' personal data, according to three people familiar with the proceedings but not allowed to speak. .
The fine reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission, a privacy and security oversight body that began probing Facebook last year, would be the first major sanction imposed on Facebook in the United States since reports revealed in March that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting company, had had information about about 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge.
The penalty should be much heavier than the $ 22.5 million fine imposed by the agency on Google in 2012. This fine set a record for the heaviest penalty for violation of a agreement with the FTC to improve its privacy practices.
The FTC's exact findings in its investigation on Facebook and the total amount of the fine, which the five commissioners of the agency have discussed at a private meeting in recent weeks, do not show up. have not been finalized, said two of the people. The staff informed the commissioners about their investigation, said the third person, and plans to issue a formal recommendation for a fine – a decision that would then result in a vote by the commissioners.
Facebook also talked about the investigation to FTC staff members, said one of the people familiar with the investigation, but it is unclear whether the company will accept a significant financial penalty with the FTC.
The FTC, which was closed due to unused government funding, could not be contacted. FTC President Joseph Simons did not respond to a request for comment. Facebook declined to comment.
On Friday, privacy advocates urged the FTC to crack down on Facebook. "The agency now has the legal authority, the evidence and the public support to act in. There can be no excuses for waiting longer," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director. from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which helped to create the FTC. 2011 charges against Facebook.
The key question for the FTC is whether Facebook's business practices – as well as the protections and confidentiality controls it offered to consumers – were contrary to the requirements set out in a consent decree by the agency last time that the tech giant has misled consumers about his practices. Only such a finding could allow the FTC to impose a fine.
The agreement requires that Facebook notifies users and gives them permission before the data is shared with third parties in a manner different from the existing privacy settings. The legally-binding order also requires Facebook to obtain users' affirmative authorization before sharing their data with third parties, and requires the technology giant to inform the FTC of the FTC's misuse of this information. It prohibits Facebook from making misleading statements about its privacy practices and instituting external controls over how it uses the data.
The privacy advocates have accused Facebook of violating the terms of this agreement several times, as evidenced by its entanglement with Cambridge Analytica. The data company, which had links to the Trump campaign, misused personal information about users of the social networking site to better target voters with political messages. Cambridge Analytica relied on researchers to create a quiz app that collected names, places, interests and other data from those who had installed it and their friends.
The incident, uncovered by a former Cambridge Analytica employee, sparked an international reaction. Regulators around the world have threatened to punish Facebook and curb the data collection practices of its Silicon Valley peers. US congressional lawmakers have for the first time convened at Capitol Hill, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where he apologized to lawmakers for breaches of confidentiality.
Since the discovery of the Cambridge Analytica probe, other privacy issues with Facebook have emerged, including details about its data-sharing agreements with smartphone and TV manufacturers, banks and other companies. major, as well as a complete list of third-party applications. Two additional fines could still be imposed by the federal authorities, said two people close to the investigation.
The sanction would be the most severe sanction to date applied to Facebook for mismanagement of data of its users. British regulators have fined Facebook a fine of about $ 640,000. The District Attorney General of Columbia has filed a lawsuit against the technology giant for his mistakes.
The FTC has imposed heavy fines in recent years on companies that deceive consumers. In 2016, for example, Volkswagen spent more than $ 14 billion to pay for mismanagement of its emissions tests and forced LifeLock, an identity protection company, to pay 100 millions of dollars for not having secured his data. has been returned to consumers.
However, the FTC staff's recommendations for fines are not always adopted by the five-member commission. In a 2012 Google survey, agency staff had concluded that the search giant had abused its monopoly power and made a formal recommendation to the commissioners contesting Google's practices. Commissioners voted unanimously to end the investigation after Google agreed to voluntarily change some of its practices, a decision that caused widespread frustration among agency staff, said one of the people.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not changed by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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