Facebook prepares for the maxi fine coming from the Federal Trade Commission. The US government agency that deals with defending competition, but also consumer rights could soon fine the social network giant a fine of between 3 and 5 billion dollars for the violation of privacy of around 87 million users whose personal data has been used without asking for consent in the context of Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The fine has not yet been formalized, but in the event that - as probable - the amount is confirmed, it would be the highest fine imposed in the history of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on a technology company. Among the big names in Hi-Tech there is only one precedent: Google, which in 2012 was punished with a fine of 22,5 million dollars, a figure that is not even remotely close to that assumed against Facebook.
The FTC investigation began in March 2018, when it emerged that Cambridge Analytica, an online marketing and consultancy company that combined data mining, data brokering and data analysis with strategic campaign communication ( including that of Donald Trump), had had access without the authorization of the interested parties to the data of 87 million users registered on the social network. Facebook had known about the situation for years, but allegedly did nothing to address the breach.
In February 2019, the The Washington Post spoke of a possible settlement between Facebook and the FTC under which the company led by Mark Zuckerberg would have to pay a fine of 2 billion dollars. The news has provoked a real protest from many consumer associations, who are instead asking for a much higher fine.
Their requests do not seem to have fallen on deaf ears and Facebook runs for cover. The company presented yesterday, April 24, the accounts for the first quarter of 2019, closed with revenues of 15,08 billion dollars (above estimates), up 26%, monthly and daily users up 8%, and revenue of 2,43 billion, down sharply from 4,9 billion a year ago and 6,8 billion a year ago. last quarter of 2018. Weighing on profits was the company's decision to set aside $3 billion to address possible future losses from the Federal Trade Commission's maxi fine.
It should be emphasized that the Menlo Park giant will also have to deal with it with requests for compensation from individual US states (Pennsylvania, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts) which also complain of damage to the privacy of their residents.
And Europe? For the moment in the old continent Facebook could be safe from sanctions given that the European Privacy Regulation came into force after the Cambridge Analytica scandal and has no retroactive effect. The European Union is currently working on a law aimed at preventing the circulation of terrorist content and which provides for fines of up to 4 percent of turnover and has other potential violations of the GDPR on the table.
