Facebook to pay a record-breaking $5 billion penalty over privacy violations
The US Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday announced that Facebook Inc will pay an unprecedented $5 billion penalty to settle a government probe into its privacy practices.
The probe which revealed alot of privacy violations, was triggered last year by allegations that Facebook violated a 2012 consent decree by inappropriately sharing information belonging to 87million users with the now-extinct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The consultancy’s clients included President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
According to FCT, facebook will increase its board members . The board will create an independent privacy committee that removes
unfettered control by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over decisions affecting user privacy.
Facebook will henceforth not request for email passwords to other services when consumers sign up .
It is barred from using telephone numbers for advertising if they are obtained in a security feature like two-factor authentication.
The company must also get user consent to use facial recognition data.
