FTC Reportedly Ready to Sock Facebook with Record $5 Billion Fine

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Facebook have reached a settlement over the 2015 Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets.

The fine, at approximately $5 billion, is the largest against a tech company in the FTC's history, surpassing the $22.5 million levied against Google in 2012. That fine also was for failures in privacy practices.

While the settlement has not been formally announced, legislators are already speaking out on the subject, with those on both sides of the aisle criticizing the amount – approximately 9% of Facebook's 2018 revenue – as insufficient.

The proposed settlement must be reviewed by the Department of Justice before it's finalized. No date has been announced for the conclusion of that review.

Read more here and here.

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