1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Facebooks $5 Billion Privacy Settlement with the Federal Trade Commission August 8, 2019 On July 24, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a “record-breaking” settlement with the social media
2、 company Facebook. The settlement order (2019 Order) is still subject to court approval. But if it is approved, Facebook will be required to pay a $5 billion civil penalty and make several changes to its privacy practices and corporate management structure. In exchange for this relief, the FTC has a
3、greed to resolve any allegations that Facebook or its officers violated an earlier 2012 settlement agreement (the 2012 Order) or otherwise violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act). The FTC has described the 2019 Order as imposing “one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the U.S. gov
4、ernment for any violation,” stating that the penalty is “almost 20 times greater than the largest privacy or data security penalty ever imposed worldwide.” The Commission did not unanimously adopt the 2019 Order, however. Two of the five FTC commissioners dissented, expressing concerns about the ord