A report today says that a rumored $5 billion Facebook fine could be confirmed this week, with the U.S. Department of Justice signing off on the proposal by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The FTC reportedly plans to fine Facebook $5 billion — the largest penalty ever imposed on a company — for the Cambridge Analytica scandal and other privacy breaches…
Suggestions that the social network would face a record fine date back to January, with Facebook setting aside at least $3 billion to pay the penalty. Wall Street Journal sources subsequently said that the amount would be around $5 billion, but that the FTC needed to get agreement from the Justice Department before announcing it.
That was expected to be a formality, however.
Reuters today suggests that this agreement has been obtained, and that the formal announcement is now imminent.
Despite the reputed Facebook fine dwarfing any previous one — the existing record was a $22.5 million fine imposed on Google — not everyone thinks it goes far enough.
They may take comfort from the fact that the fine won’t be the end of the matter, however.
Details are not yet known, but Facebook will have to agree to specific rules on what it can and cannot do with user data as a condition of the matter being concluded.
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