Facebook will pay a $5bn fine to the FTC for bevy of privacy lapses

Facebook on Wednesday reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commision (FTC), which was investigating the company over privacy concerns surrounding last year’s Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“The agreement will require a fundamental shift in the way we approach our work and it will place additional responsibility on people building our products at every level of the company,” Facebook said on its blog.

The agreement included a $5-billion fine (about R69.7-billion) to “resolve allegations”.

With the FTC agreement, Facebook outlined that it will now strive to build privacy into all accounts, the company will also face “stricter complaince measures” and “independant oversight”.

“This agreement is not only about regulators, it’s about rebuilding trust with people,” Facebook said.

The company further noted that it wants to go forward with transparency, accountability and oversight.

“A committee of Facebook’s board of directors will meet quarterly to ensure we’re living up to our commitments. The committee will be informed by an independent privacy assessor,” explained Facebook.

After the settlement was revealed, Facebook also announced its second quarter earnings for 2019.

“There are now more than 2.7-billion people using Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger each month,” Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.

Despite all its privacy concerns, the platform still seems to be quite popular among social media users.

Feature image: Facebook