Facebook Settlement With FTC Will Cost the Company $5 billion: report
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is expected to announce a $5 billion settlement with Facebook as early as this week of its investigation into the social media company’s handling of user data, Reuters reports.
The FTC has been investigating allegations Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The settlement is expected to include government restrictions and oversight on how Facebook treats user privacy.
The $5 billion penalty could be considered as low for a company such as Facebook, which had $55.8 billion in revenue and $22.1 billion in net income in 2018.
Facebook is also facing public criticism from President Donald Trump and others about its planned cryptocurrency Libra over concerns about privacy and money laundering.