Facebook is a publisher. It uses content to generate ad sales. That is publishing.
A platform is a situation whereby the content generator pays to use the platform - such as a live theater venue - and the renter tries to monetize the production.
Facebook does not allow content creators to rent space on Facebook and then keep all the ad revenue. Therefore, Facebook is a publisher.
As a publisher, Facebook should be held responsible for verifying every fact or claim published on Facebook.
Would this require hiring thousands and thousands of fact checkers? Yes. And hiring creates jobs.
Also, and fine levied against Facebook should continue accruing - at, say a billion dollars a day - until they compile with their privacy mission.
6
I would be very interested to read FB's internal communications and see how the leadership framed the $5B fine to employees.
2
where does a 5 billion dollar fine go?
general budget?
1
What a joke...a FTC fine of $5B is pure publicity in an effort to convince the American people the gov't is "watching." It is meaningless, and Facebook will continue to making mega $billions. Pitiful. But really, gullible Americans don't care about their so called "privacy." It is a meaningless word, because the digital revolution eliminated privacy a long time ago. Wake up America, as you lost your privacy when email was born. Hopefully I have not surprised anyone.
5
Worried about Facebook? Get off Facebook if you don't like it.
It's free. Nothing is free.
Facebook is a toy. Treat it like a toy.
Facebook ate the NYT's lunch.
The Democrats think they lost the 2016 election because of Facebook or was it the Russians?
The critics and a number of users take it seriously. Don't.
You people want to worry about something Government Face Recognition and Tracking. It's here. We hear you, we see you, we know what you're doing 24-7. Facebook is just a wake up call to the real thing.
4
We are the victims.
We are the ones that have had our lives disemboweled by these aberrant vampires.
We are the ones who should be paid out from the fine for the abuses visited upon us.
5
The FTC needs to add a zero to the $5 billion ot make it $50Billion and Zuck would wake up in a hot second. The early millionaires and billionaires of the last century used their wealth to help their countries and people. The current crop of noveau richie-rich like Zuck, Spiegel and the rest are true oligarchs who will stop at nothing to make more money.
The only way to get these individuals to run their business in a more ethical and consumer first way is to diminish their buying power by taking the money away.
Use the money to fund medicare, reduce student debt and other national causes.
8
"This would be a joke of a fine — a two-weeks-of-revenue, parking-ticket-level penalty for destroying democracy,” said Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute, "
Let`s hope that the EU will come up with a penalty that actually effects Facebook & Zuckerberg personally.
10
Seems insufficient give the negligence on Facebook's part and the hundreds of millions of minors who have had their personal data and messages scrapped. Hopefully this is the first step of consequences for Facebook and its management team.
Still lots to be concerned about. Take Facebook's new general counsel, Jennifer Newstead, a Patriot Act zealot, and...Sheryl Sandberg's classmate from college. Hmmm. I wonder who's back she's got. Not the customers and the shareholders I bet.
6
The way forward must be away from one-off penalty payments and toward escalating punitive public takeover -socialization- of the companies themselves as public utilities. The way to do this is statutes outrightly criminalizing any misstep involving private data or abuse of corporate power at consumer expense, particularly when revenue and exec pay reach today's exorbitant levels.
The logic of this is that when these companies derive their revenue (directly or indirectly) from the broad public, the public deserves the financial benefit of the value it itself creates, while software/app/program creators deserve compensation in reasonable proportion to their talent, effort and contribution -- RATHER THAN based on the population of the country or world, as largely occurs now.
The way to implement is escalating penalties aimed at seizing greater and greater portions of the outsize fortunes in question with each violation, so eventually these monopolies and near-monopolies morph into regular public utilities.
If you have doubts, read Girandhadas' "Winners Take All" on our intesifying oligarchic conditions and their consequences for democracy. In ways seen and unseen, our lives are being reshaped by unprecedented corporate power and concentrations of wealth. This is probably the problem's only solution.
3
In the aftermath of the terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka, the government shut down Facebook and others for at least a few days. Give Facebook a week long "time out." That's the only action that will get the attention of Zuckerberg and his associates at other tech companies.
3
@Theodore R
This fine is a drop in the bucket for Zuckerberg and the other Americans corporate leaders who serve terrorists and dictators.
Social media addicts aren't going to be able to give up their drug. Social media is designed to be addictive and to undermine shared democratic progressive values with the values of the tribe. Think Afghanistan.
2
@Jay David; I believe losing a week or two with all its U.S. subscribers will hurt Facebook much more than a fine. After a short period without Facebook, some subscribers may decide to log off permanently. Facebook will not be able to collect new data from subscribers, which is its actual product--how will its actual customers, the buyers of that data, react? And, if the government shuts them down once, a second shutdown becomes much more like and more of a threat.
2
This is an unregulated utility, and this is simply what happens when you allow that.
4
A simple slap on the wrist for FB who brings in billions. It's time to regulate FB like other media outlets. Zuckerberg could care less about American's privacy or anything else except the almighty Dollar and Rubles that keep flowing in for ads.
4
FB Stock up over $12 at open today. Not much of a hit to shareholders. $5b seems like a lot, put not much of a dent to FB.
6
Of course another slap on the wrist fine them for a day's wage. Our justice department is so corrupt it makes it a policy of letting big companies get away with anything with only a relatively small fine. IF IF IF the justice department were serious about their job they would have a policy of fining companies a percentage of their gross income and that and that alone will make companies change. Fine them %25 of their highest gross per violation you'll see immediate change opposed to the impotent methods used by our corrupt justice dept..
3
Who gets the 5 billion dollars? Where does it go in the budget ? The federal debt? .... Medicare?..... defense ? The Wall of Tears and Fears ?
6
I would like to know what the FTC does with the money it collects for fines. What does it go to? Do they fund things with it? In a seriousness. I'm not asking to be facetious. I really want to know.
5
"Thankfully, Troy Davis, a Seattle-based developer, created Simple Opt Out — a handy webpage that will help you disable these services for over 50 companies, including major retailers but also companies like Facebook and 23&Me."
Thanks to the NYT -- I found this thru the Times Privacy Project. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/opinion/internet-privacy-project.html?emc=edit_priv_20190423&nl=the-privacy-project&te=1
7
Zuckerberg doesn’t have everyone brainwashed. He had a brilliant idea to once interweave college students with their friends at other colleges that they may not always see during each semester. Perhaps giving mom, dad and grandma and the family pet an in too was the first mistake. I mean, college encourages independence not codependency, and when you think about it, that’s what really happened by letting everyone in.
I feel as if Zuckerburg was too lax which I also feel contributed to the data breaches and misinformation shares.
I now wish Facebook would just focus on Facebook and no longer buy into Instagram or WhatsApp. I don’t mind Insta, but Facebook has becoming incredibly grating for me in recent years. I’m five months deactivated, and still not looking back!
2
Item #1 in any settlement should be that Facebook comply with one of the terms of the 2011 consent decree that is the legal basis for any fine. FB the agreed to give 'clear and present notice' of data sharing of user data with others. Since the stories broke about massive undisclosed data sharing FB has not informed users of which partners, like Cambridge Analytica, obtained their data from FB, a direct violation of the 'express consent' provision of the 2011 decree.
When I first read of the CA data transfers, I posted a question for FB on my FB home page asking simply whether my data had been shared with CA. No answer so far. Meanwhile, Equifax admitted that my credit data had been obtained by hacking them and offered limited remediation. FB must tell all users who it has shared their data with, not just allow users to look at their own data files. Any non-disclosure provision in contracts with 3rd parties is invalid based on the 2011 decree. It has been shown that FB data can be used to influence elections. This is a matter of national security.
FB 'moved fast and broke things'. Grownups admit what they broke, pay to fix things, and pay their fines.
8
Look at it as a tax. Most of the big IT companies do not pay any federal tax.
In fact 60 of the top 500 fortune companies did not pay any federal tax last yr.
Maybe this is the way we should handle this obscenity. Fine the other 440 companies.
9
If the FTC or whoever really wanted to regulate FB they would prevent political money for advertising. But since the regulators are politicians or puppets of those who pay it is not going to happen. In terms of $5B that is just another Willie Sutton move the same as the fines against Google in Europe. Cash grab from non-innovating parasites.
2
We've entered the supra powerful/rich tech companies era, too big to be guided by ethical conduct, telling the government how much to fine them. Or is this an in-your-face back door bribe. Truth is, FB has more global say by far than trump has around the world. So why not pay him off.
2
I am in favor of regulations that do not allow any more “opinion-measuring” operations like Cambridge Analytica (US) to come back and take root. Recall that dark money used by Steve Bannon, from the Mercers, founded and operated that company. They will be back for 2020.
7
I spotted Facebook as folly from the start. That I refused to participate led others to deride me as out of step. They laughed because I wouldn't "get with it" and be part of the social media scene
Now who's laughing.
10
Why should anyone expect privacy on an openly public platform like the Internet? Such a puzzle. Zuckerberg must think he’s asleep and having a nightmare!
1
Zuckerburg pay up....but, when you do, ask the US Government when it is going to let Assange, Snowden and Manning off the hook for invading our privacy as well.
3
Who cares what Facebook has on you? Unless you are really hiding something then what is it everyone is so afraid of?? Your recipes and photos? They don't have your SSN which is the only thing that could really damage anyone. The govt should look at the 3 credit unions---Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. They have everything on you and you can't quit them!! That's what folks should be concerned about. Not Facebook.
4
@Jay There is in fact ample evidence of Facebook’s malfeasance over the last ten years that goes well beyond what you consider to be the content of your FB account.
4
@Jay Do you really believe FB--or any other big tech company for that matter--doesn't have (or have access to) your SSN? I hate to say it, but it's hard to be more delusional than that when it comes to understanding the power these companies hold over their users.
1
@Jay
You realize Facebook builds a profile on you, even if you’re not on Facebook? I agree with you about the credit agencies though.
Friends started the years long process of a foreign adaption in 2004. They decided to share that journey with friends and family via Facebook in 2006. I joined to follow and was immediately inundated with requests to be “friends” from people, whom I either didn’t know or had not thought of since high school. I’m pretty sure there was a reason we hadn’t stayed in touch for the previous 34 years. In 2006, long before all the privacy issues were brought to light, I was naive enough to join for two weeks. Joining or staying with Facebook now is just dumb.
6
5 billion fine is laughable to a company like Facebook. Probably makes them want to commit more crimes.
4
@Greg They'll probably just chalk it up to a marketing expense.
1
Not mishandling but more accurately misleading with regard to customer information.
1
Could someone explain to me and the public how the alleged privacy violations hurt anyone? I have been using Facebook probably since 2011 and don't feel like I've been harmed or violated. Explain. Justify even a one-dollar fine.
2
@Garlic Toast: Read Amy Webb’s The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity. That will explain the harm in using Facebook and All Social media.
5
@Garlic Toast This is the old “climate change isn’t real because I am looking out my window and it is snowing in January” argument. Much has been written in this paper and many other outlets about Facebook’s absolute dysfunction at best and outright malpractice or negligence at worst.
4
@Garlic Toast Have you actually read FB's data policy you're required to accept when signing up?
https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update
In case you haven't, here are some of the things they access that may scare you:
- your mobile number
- your IP address(es)
- your mouse movements
- your location at all times & your travels (through GPS, cell towers, wifi networks, etc.)
- your user IDs for devices, apps & sites
- all photos on your devices (even those not posted to FB)
- your camera (& presumably your microphone)
- information on other people & groups through your connection with them
- information on other devices near you, whether they're on your network or not
- & on & on
All of this metadata can be combined to create a better understanding of you than you have of yourself.
If you think for one second that all the "free" applications and sites you use aren't mining your data for personal information you need to reexamine that 64 page"privacy" statement you agree to when installing or signing up. Privacy is an illusion, welcome to 2019. Five billion is a slap on the wrist, tech giants run the world and we've voluntarily given them all of our information to get richer.
7
@Patrick
Privacy is not an illusion. Many people still care. As more people learn -- and see the deceit, hypocrisy, secrecy, and unfairness behind the bargains we are offered -- more people find they they do care. Some of us care passionately.
3
I'm not sure what you mean? It's an illusion because it doesn't really exists. I care, believe me, I have some IT security qualifications and know full well the extant of privacy but if you want the tech you'll be expected to pay up and I don't think people are ready to pay for things like email or Instagram.
2
It might be more effective if the money came directly out of the executive officers' pockets. We all know how devastating it is to lose 5 billion hard earned dollars. Lol. Just shut it down and ignore the Zuckerbergs and associates. Nobody gets hurt that way. Right now Facebook is like a car manufacturer that doesn't include seatbelts as standard equipment.
4
@100Morein2♀️2♀️
Or maybe if Zuckerberg had to spend a few years in prison for his habitual lying to everybody about how he was going to fix Facebook, he sounds more like trump with every word he utters, lies, lies, lies.!
3
Sure,$5 billion is pocket change to FB's founder. However, it is a significant chunk of change that would be rendered to the FTC and thus the federal government.
That being so, the FTC should mandate that the $5 billion collected be allocated to States to protect the electoral security from the malfeasance experienced in 2016. Obviously, the Trump administration doesn't care one whit about foreign interference in the elections, but the States certainly could use the money to improve ballot security measures and installing machines with a paper trail in 2020.
9
I think that nothing less than $50 billion would get the attention of Facebook management.
According to Socrates' post, the annual NET PROFIT (after paying astronomical salaries to its management and line employees) is as follows:
2018 $22.1 billion
2017 $15.9 billion
2016 $10.2 billion
2015 $3.7 billion
2014 $2.9 billion
2013 $1.5 billion
2012 $32 million
2011 $668 million
Facebook entered into a 2011 consent decree with the government promising to enact reforms to address concerns over how it tracked and shared data about its users.
But, then, the public learned that an app developer named Aleksandr Kogan sold data for as many as 87 million Facebook users to the UK-based political consulting and data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to the Trump presidential campaign.
This obvious violation of the consent decree came in the period when Facebook's annual NET PROFIT went from less than $1 billion in 2011 to a total of $48 billion for the three year period 2015 through 2017.
And, of course, this is only one violation of the 2011 consent decree of which the public has been informed.
4
@David Lockmiller
It is worth noting that numerous class actions were brought against Facebook. There is a consolidated class action pending right now in the Northern District Court of California. Find that website, enter "Facebook" in the search page -- and it will take you directly to the case, top link. There, you will find the motions filed by attorneys in the case. (The most recent brief filed by Facebook's attorneys, arguing the case should be dismissed, is fascinating: Not in a good way -- more like William Barr's summary of Mueller's report.)
2
$5,000,000,000.00: Chump change to Zuckerberg. I will be surprised if he doesn’t give the Goldman quip “ We’re just doing God’s work” along with the potential fine taken from petty cash. The arrogance of these people is stunning. BTW tell me once again why these “ entrepreneurs and disrupters” deserve such fortunes? I mean is Ben Silvermans “Pinterest”from what I can tell little more than a collection of other people’ s pictures designed to get you to sign up and divulge personal information really worth $14,000,000,000,00? Travis Kalanicks Uber, created to destroy the taxi industry and projected to lose billions a year far into the future, its worth what, $120,000,000,000.00 as it competes with Lyft and a dozen others now in the fray internationally to “pull an Amazon” and have shareholders support you for years as you destroy millions of jobs, small businesses and lives. This feels like a much bigger scam than the dot com bubble of twenty years ago, and as usual it will be the mom and pop investors that get cleaned out.
7
Why don't you fine them something that hurts them? 5 billion dollars is no skin off Mark Zuckerberg's back, and he's the ONE who controls things there.
4
@RE
zuck, who should I make this check to?
Today's good news. Where does the money go?
4
One of the many problems with companies like FB, in addition to many of those mentioned, is the issue of the executive (read Mark Z) cognitive capability for dealing with complexity. In companies such as FB, there are proven discrete levels of role complexity with those at the higher levels being the most complex. Mark Z, like many brilliant inventors and entrepreneurs, more often than not, lack the mental processing capacity to manage the complexity they have fallen into as their company grows. The company has gotten away from him, and potentially many of those around him in the C suite. I would argue that one required action be a major change in those running the company.
5
Along with breaking new ground comes breaking new rules, as with any growing industry (i.e. Standard Oil’s monopoly, the motion picture industry’s vertical integration strategy). Privacy is the new anti-trust. No pun intended :-)
2
How about a clasw action lawsuit?? Who is with me??
4
@Amy
Already are class action lawsuits going against Facebook.
See https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/class-action-lawsuits-against-facebook-consolidated-creating-one-of-the-largest-data-privacy-lawsuits-2018-08-23
Or my other comment earlier on where to find the case.
This, from a government that recently proposed using FB to spy on U.S. citizens receiving SSDI.
3
Just say NO!!! To Facebook. To Twitter. To Instagram. To ALL social media. To your health provider requesting you to fill out “health questionnaires.” To any entity asking you to “like” something. For example I have a DVD subscription. They nag me to rate the movies I’ve watched through their service. It’s no ones business how I felt about something I watched. Don’t participate in rewards programs like eBates. When you buy something on Amazon, don’t rate and review it. If you use Spotify, don’t make your playlists public, and don’t rate what you listen to.
None of this is anyone’s business. It’s all an effort to increase access to your data. Don’t participate in anything that gives any entity information about yourself. The information you give may seem minor, or not important. But what all these companies want is an ever increasing volume of data about you.
Read Amy Webb’s “The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity” to understand what I’m saying more completely.
14
You realize that unless you're paying for your email you are giving them all the information they need to make money. Do you own a smartphone? If so, your sharing your location and everything you view at all times despite "turning location off" or using a VPN. You shop on Amazon? All of your purchases and views are logged and sold to the highest bidders and to of course sell you more things. You get the idea. The only way to ensure complete privacy would be to literally live in a cave. The key to living in 2019 is to have the literacy of privacy, technology brings convienice but you may need to give up some things to maintain your privacy.
3
I hope you are right. When the replicants come online line maybe they will send me the Anja Rubik replicant at an extra special price.
Facebook and all social media are out if control all privacy and personal info exposed
3
At this late date, I view anyone using FB as NOT being "tech savvy".
9
Jail time. As long as the senior leadership at companies like Facebook merely surrender profits and do not themselves suffer incarceration for their misdeeds—I’m personally fed up with apologies that result in no meaningful change—then they will never change their behavior. And Mark Z could make so many new friends in prison for a year or two!
5
Last year, a mid-level manager, in a large corporation with the resources to use any number of web based services, scheduled a meeting on Facebook. I wrote them back (copying my supervisor and his manager) and said, "I do not use Facebook, I cannot attend any meeting scheduled there". That was the last Facebook meeting notice.
For other companies using Facebook for similar commercial applications? Just stop. I cannot and do not look at your webpages.
8
Facebook and other social media companies are out of control. The FCC needs to devise rules and regulatuons before more dmage is done to our democrary. Jail time would probaly get Zuckerberg's attention. $5 billion is a slap on the wrist.
3
In 2008 and 2012 our President Obama used Facebook data interpreted by Cambridge Analytica so well he was celebrated as a "Data Genius".
In 2016 candidate Trump used the same two and he beat Hillary. There were accusations of "russian" involvement.
So now the fury to destroy Facebook, the leader of social networking, on the pretense of "privacy". The cry is that a mere $5 Billion(!) will not kill the firm.
There are high-fives in China at their luck at being handed the 27,000 Facebook jobs as their version of the social company grabs the market share.
Hey Microsoft, you're next -- if you let the Republicans use your programs during their 2020 campaign.
1
The great grey lady - the NYT uses Facebook.
Where are the massive fines for the criminal 2008 banks? Why are there no bankers in prison for that scam?
14
And the Iraq war debacle?
7
I use no social media. None. As the great comedian, Betty White, stated, now that I know what Facebook is, it is such a waste of time. The comments here are heartwarming. None favorable to zuckerberg. He, sheryl, etc., all belong in jail. Maybe then they just might develop a sense of morality. Fines to these people mean nothing. The money is not coming from their own bank accounts. Until they feel the penalty personally it means nothing to them.
4
Doesn't stop Betty from using Twitter or Instagram. Instagram is owned by Facebook BTW.
1
5 billion for Zucker is like 5 cents for you and me. 50 billion would be a speeding ticket, 500 billion more like it.
6
When is the government going to stop spending so much time negotiating slap on the wrist fines and start actually introducing legislation limiting the power of big tech? Almost all of the “disruption” in today’s society can be traced to the increase of tech in everyday lives. How about we start protecting the “freelancers” tech employs, clamp down on the social media misinformation campaigns, and install criminal penalties for misuse of personal data? Please, Congress, join the current century and protect your citizens.
1
If corporations are people, and they violate the laws, how come no corporate titans are jailed?
It is a travesty of justice that ordinary people are jailed because thy can not post bonds while the executives of Facebook go scot-free by paying some fines (and not admit any guilt), and continue to violate its customers' privacy.
Facebook's senior executives need to be held accountable. Jail them.
3
So that’s one less employee bonding outing that would’ve had full catering and trust falls. Sounds like everyone wins.
I quit FB some time ago and don't regret it for a second. I figured that if someone didn't pick up the phone and call me on my birthday, they weren't really my "friend."
10
A lot of my Facebook friends don’t know when my birthday is! They were only triggered by the notification.
1
Facebook, a $5 billion fine would amount to a fraction of its $56 billion in annual revenue
boohoo... I feel so badly for Zuckerman..
Fines for the rich, incarceration for the poor.
6
Zuckerberg words “We have to do better”, said with every new crisis. Enough!
4
Just say "no" to FB. That's the ultimate punishment.
7
And what happens to the $5 billion. ? Pretty excessive and it was my privacy infringed on, but I won’t see a dime of it. How is that fair?
3
Interesting reporting. First the use of data for Trump. Oh, and then that other little breach where 50 millions users' data was stolen.
2
Capitalism has stages of growth like infancy, childhood, youth, adolescence, maturity and old age. During this entire process it is trying to control and manipulate the world around it for increased income and profit. It gets quite good at this from maturity to old age when the authority figure, in this case, government is weakened by the bribes and power of the wealthiest in the private sector.
It seems we are at that point where Capitalism has been allowed by government to become predatory and even cannibalistic, as in the case of the Shackler Family (Purdue Pharmaceutical) who have been targeting opioids in specific vulnerable markets, addicting and killing, destroying families, childhoods, society, regardless of the human cost, all for their own profit.
Take a lesson from Mother Nature; Our political parties are at odds. The (current) GOP Parasitic Economic Theory, celebrates taking as much as possible and give back nothing, or, as little as possible.
The Democratic Symbiotic Economic Theory supports and celebrates mutually beneficial relationships between different people or groups without the excessive accumulation of capital in only one group. All social classes are relevant and all benefits from the poor to the well to do deserve the basic necessities; excellent parenting, nutrition, health care, education, and opportunity.
This is a fair comparison. So forget the terms GOP and Democrat. Politically, you're either a Parasite, or, Symbiot.
FaceBook is a Parasite.
6
This (putative) fine is a good start; sort of like 5,000 lawyers at the bottom of San Fancisco bay. But as for FB "letting people spread hate:" Hello? Might as well blame Gutenberg.
2
Facebook should be fined enough to pay for Trump's wall in its entirety.
2
Zuckerberg’s greed and lack of cogent leadership has been Facebook’s biggest weakness. A $5B fine is astronomical. Will the fine change their culture? Temporarily perhaps. Facebook needs a new model. That is a daunting problem for them. We will see whether they have the resources for a sea change in emphasis.
@DENOTE MORDANT The profit margins in this businesses are gigantic. This is just a speed bump like all the fines of huge businesses. They're stock prices, which is 90% plus of what concerns them, will only be temporarily affected if at all.
1
The fine is actually ridiculous; to the firms (like Google), it is merely part of the cost of doing business. If our government were serious about curbing such behaviour (and this applies to the financial industry in spades), the government would start prosecuting executives. Mark Zuckerberg would be far less likely to engage in such nefarious behaviour if he might have to do time behind bars.
So until real individual responsibility is assigned to people, this sloppy approach to security-as-an-afterthought and the willingness to essentially eliminate on-line privacy will continue.
3
@Danny I agree, but Congress is to busy with Russiagate even after Mueller, raising money for the next election and formulating taking points for the next marginal but divisive issue. And so is the New York Times, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, Washington Post etc.
5 Billion is a slap on the wrist for a company the size of Facebook. How about the annual profit for each year Facebook was in violation instead. That might get their attention.
1
Just read the first section of the Mueller report and that would make most people livid. Why anyone would use FB, much less be addicted to it, is beyond me. You can't trust what you read.
3
Good.
Now how about going after companies like Equifax? Equifax collects sensitive financial data on over 800 million individuals and 88 million companies. Unlike Facebook however, with Equifax, one does not have the right to opt out. Then, after leaking your data, Equifax charges victims for the right to limit the purchase of said data. (Your leaked data, however, still remains out there on the WWW for anyone to see.)
20
@consumer I so agree. They should have been shut down, and their ability to collect and hold personal data should have been taken away.
6
Sri Lanka or New Zealand conceivably could issue arrest warrants for Facebook's executives making travel difficult if not impossible. Fines may be the easy way out that some countries may shun.
1
No jail, no penalty. When you fine really rich people or companies, it means nothing, just a cost of doing business.
10
This is just a half hearted start, FB needs to be treated like a utility, super tightly regulated, and switched to a subscription service.
4
Trying to squeeze out some sympathy for either Zuckerberg or Facebook, but it’s not working.
5
@Bob Bunsen No it is a targeted hit against a West Coast company. The finance fraudsters should have all faced stiffer penalties.
2
This sounds like a poker play to me. When you have overplayed and over bet on your hand and suddenly realize that someone else has a better hand, you raise just enough to so that the player with the better hand is ok with your bet and doesn't raise the bet even higher.
Facebook is obviously telegraphing that this is the amount they expect to get fined and are ok with losing. Maybe the government should go all in.
4
Wait for California to start enforcing the CCPA mid 2020, along with maybe around 14 other states that have their own version of it.
The joke won't be the monetary penalty corporations will be fined. Pretty sure the FTC penalty will beat California. The real joke is when they collect the fines, they won't go to the consumer or groups who filed the lawsuit. It will go to the state's tax revenue.
1
No sympathy for sure. Facebook along with Cambridge Analytica gave us Trump. Cambridge boasted on camera that they won the election. Yes illegal immigration ignored by both parties for decades hurt the country and contributed. Regardless Facebook is a nightmare for America. Zuckerberg is really remarkably counter intuitive in his words and actions. Facebook should’ve gone. It’s enough. All our information is out there. He’s such a non genius he thought he needed to let hate groups post! For gods sake he’s not a journalist, not a lawyer just a whimsical clown. He let Russians d other players promote hate and division.
11
@Elias No the Democrats and establishment Republicans being so lousy gave us Trump. Many people that voted Trump were so desperate they wanted to blow up the system. They knew it was risky, but decided it was worth a try. While they may have hoped it would have turned out differently than it has, most still don't regret it because both those groups have only become even less attractive.
1
facebook will just say piffle to this (to them) piddling amount. It's a statement, but one of weakness. Where is Congress? The last time I saw them interviewing Zuckerberg, they all looked baffled and were unable to articulate any clear questions. Why can't they (besides having taken so much corporate campaign cash) emulate the regulations being put on this industry by some of the Western nations?
3
@Ellen A thousand times yes.
I deleted my Facebook in 2013. I've never regretted it for a moment. Highly recommended.
9
Excellent! Although that amount of money is a pittance to them....
1
While those responsible for the opiod crisis are being fined 20 million...
4
Fine FB to the point where they go out of business. Snatching people's private information is in the same league as selling drugs.
2
@Mike- except that you gave it to them in the first place.
I have made a point of NEVER, not EVER, giving accurate information to any social media outlet I signed up with. They get generic names, generic and sometimes entirely false birth dates, generic and sometimes false addresses, no specific work information, etc. I NEVER make connections with high school/college web pages, and don't ever make any FB connections with friends from that period no matter what. Ever. I make them through another agency, or not at all.
Why you gave them any of that information in the first place is beyond me. And no, they had no right to sell it to anyone else, of course. But don't give them any more correct information, from this point on. It's simply not worth it, because you can NEVER trust them. They've proved that time and again.
7
@laguna greg
If you don't have any correct information on your social media account, why even sign up in the first place? If you socialize with anyone on Facebook, it doesn't matter what fake info you've given them, they know who you really are.
I've never signed up with Facebook, or any other social media account, but I know that Facebook already knows who I am. You should read about Facebook shadow profiles.
2
Where does the $5B go? Who dispenses it?
2
@Jim Salners- it goes into the federal government's general fund, to be spent according to the budget submitted by the most recent administration, as congress has passed or amended.
Your civics class should have taught you that...
6
And... this is what’s wrong with capitalism in this country. Company makes $100 billion doing shady stuff, gets fined $5 billion.
Did you learn your “lesson” FaceBook?
9
The big fine for privacy violations is one thing, but it doesn’t address the damage anonymous targeted political advertising is doing to our polity.
It has been shown that targeted political advertising is allowing bad actors - from Russia to unscrupulous American politicians - to manipulate and polarize the populace. Using targeted political advertising, they can send inflammatory, frequently untrue statements to only the people they know are liable to be receptive. This allows them to manipulate their targets with divisive messages they would never dare to float with the general population.
This is how we’ve gotten to where we are today, with everybody thinking that our society is horribly divided and there’s no common ground.
When politicians are forced to direct their messages to everybody, they have to find the common ground and can no longer build electorates by dividing and polarizing us.
It’s time for the FEC to step up and ban this practice just as they ban other corrupt political practices like buying votes or loading ballot boxes.
13
@David Emmert- very well said!
3
@David Emmert
Superb! You have summed up the issues beautifully.
3
Every penny of that fine should go toward a massive effort to educate the public in critical thinking skills and in being wise (and skeptical) consumers of information on social media. Every classroom, every public library, every television and radio station, and every social media platform should be inundated with this kind of information.
10
@Roberta- it's called "education," and that property tax money has already been stolen by most every state legislature to prop up their each and every failing pension system.
And I'm afraid not one of us will ever see that money again.
3
So $5 billion is the cost of essential rights?
Well, then don’t be afraid of AI. We can be destroyed by much more simpler patterns.
3
Will facebook be forced to give users an option--a default option--not to allow facebook to share any user data commercially, or with third parties, and an option for users to pay for the service rather than see ads? Ditto Google. $5 billion fines is nothing to both companies.
10
$5B is a pittance for Facebook It's just the cost of doing business.
This relatively modest fine is a message: we won't hold you accountable.
13
Only older people care about privacy.
How do you expect privacy in this day in age? Willingly signing up for social media to advertise your life to the world. Nothing is free. Everyone has a choice.
2
$50 billion, or maybe even $500 billion, would be more appropriate. Facebook is built on stealing private information from all of its users. Without that theft Facebook would be nothing.
And that doesn't even count the damage to our society and its political discourse Facebook has allowed itself to be used for for the sake of its own obscene profits.
19
It’s about time. Five billion ain’t that much to FB, but it’s symbolic. Hopefully it is a start to regulating high tech firms.
5
@Megustan Trenes
Fine needs to be MUCH higher, if you want to change behavior. A slap on the wrist is just symbolic, a theater play to make it looks like laws are enforced.
8
This fine is just a tiny fraction of what Facebook made in profits from exploiting privacy illegally. As such it is not a deterrent, it is an inducement.
Corporations won’t start fearing the justice system until we start incarceration their executives.
13
Mr. Zuckerberg, Ms. Sandberg, Mr. Trump, etc, the American business sociopaths are multiplying.
19
Get off Facebook. That's the only message Zuckerberg & Co will understand.
32
Big deal. All Zuckerburg has to do is issue some stock to cover it. Regulation would be a better idea for these companies ruining our country.
14
@Tom
Regulations are a double edged sword. Regulations would be welcomed by the tech giants, as its costs would be prohibitive to start ups and just work as barrier to entry for new players.
No one should ever call for regulation without considering its consequences. Ever.
2
These puny fines are just factored in as the cost of doing business.
Facebook exists to extract your personal life and sell it. You are the product. Corporations are the customers.
Billionaires making billions.
9
Drop in a bucket for Zuckerberg.
6
facebook was never a necessity. At best it's an amusement and we're all sick of it. We no longer have a need to catch up with someone we knew when we were 8.
14
A one time fine irrespective of the amount is insufficient. Social media companies need to be held to the same accountability standards as newspapers and network TV. They are publishers and are responsible for the content. It does not matter what the revenue model is for these business. They publish content and need to be held to the same standards regarding disclosing the sponsor and not allowing inappropriate material.
If a fine is added on top of this, all the better. Or, why not take them over like the US did to GM and Chrysler in 2009.
8
This seems to be bad negotiating 101. Is there some spreadsheet of fines by the FCC I don’t know about? Why tell them what you are willing to pay?
If I’m the FCC I say, if they can pay $5b, they can pay $7b. As a taxpayer, I’ll be disappointed with anything but $7b.
2
So maybe Mark Zuckerberg is going to pay for the wall.
8
Relatively speaking, my parking fines are bigger.
11
It may be a drop in the bucket for Facebook, but it’s a first step. Let’s hope there will be more.
As with all criminal behavior, the punishment should be commemsurate with the crime, in terms of reparations when possible, punitive and, most of all in case of Zuckerberg, who has been shown to be a repeat liar and offender, be a deterrent for future crimes.
1
Want privacy? Think it's unfair to sell your data? Get off FB. And start regulating and fining the other biggies...they too should pay their fair share!
3
And this lawsuit is from 2011. What have we seen from Facebook in the ensuing 8 years? More of the same....and then some.
Not to mention Facebook's responsibility in the interference of the 2016 election; the full frontal attack on our democracy verified by the Mueller Report.
What will it take for folks to see Facebook lacks the leadership, desire, and maturity, to have access to - and "news" input - the personal information of billions of people worldwide?
Facebook & technology is our banking & housing debacle of the early 2000's...reincarnated.
When will we step out of illusion...and into our reality?
5
Not enough.
6
Why does Facebook get to “negotiate” their fine? If I get a speeding ticket, or commit some other infraction/crime the judge states how much I owe. I don’t get a vote. Why the difference?
12
I know your question is rhetorical but the difference is obvious isn’t it?
The old joke.. you owe $100k - that’s your problem. You owe $10million - that’s the banks problem.
2
So after gathering more than enough information on what the general public will broadcast publicly, Facebook wants data of our private conversations.
3
Although $5B is not a lot of money to Facebook, it’s still an incredible amount for most entities on Earth. Enough to help a huge number of people. So, I’m really curious...what happens to that—or any—fines that the FTC collects?
4
I Google things I want to know more about BUT I also Google lots of things just to confuse them.
It must be working judging by all the conflicting email I get.
4
@April Kane
Even better: don't "Google" anything. There are perfectly fine substitutes that perform seamlessly and at least purport to protect your privacy. e.g. Mozilla Firefox; Duck Duck Go. I am the least technically proficient person in the universe and I could sign onto and adopt these as default programs with their max privacy choices in about 15 minutes. I have no idea if or how they work but can only say that very few ads parade down my screen. But I do applaud your strategy of sabotage-a thousand points of light as opposed to waiting for the government to do anything meaningful to those stuffing money into campaign coffers.
Facebook is a great resource. I have just reconnected with a cousin I haven't seen for almost fifty years ...
... but ...
Fines are just "the cost of doing business" and will do nothing to change Facebook's privacy violations. Put Zuckerberg in prison for a year and a day, and things will change!
9
Do the ultimate act and users shut down your FB account. Nothing spells satisfaction like good-bye.
24
@Mother NYC
Already done some time ago.
2
FB account numbers are almost certainly overstated. I would expect that there are several million ‘duplicate’ accounts in the US. Overseas numerous individuals who have multiple SIMs likely have multiple FB accounts.
Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and the executive staff at Facebook are lucky they are not looking at jail time given the negligence and abuses they have countenanced in the name making money and ignoring responsibilities. These people have set up a con and claim the first amendment protects their con from all the historical and legal responsibilities of media in this country. The real problem is they don't want to do the work and spend the money needed to clean up their act. Any company doing what they have been doing should be put out of business immediately.
8
Well … I must say that $$ appears to have gotten Zuckerberg's attention.
Madofian tactics no matter how you cut it. Un-American activities Why exploit the country that has been welcoming and fair.
Delete Facebook.
19
@Kara
Did a couple of years ago and even before that, didn’t post, only read others postings.
1
And LinkedIn and Instagram.
2
@Ricardo222 and WhatsApp and messenger
1
$5 Billion annually until Zuckerbaby goes an entire year with out an "oops, I'm sorry" statement. Oops, we advertised several million user emails without their consent, oops we make X millions allowing the Russians to spoof legitimate political adds, oops... .
10
Just a random thought.
Although Five Billion is real money.
It’s just a slap to Facebook.
And doesn’t rattle the Richter Scale on the US Budget.
If you had a Five Billion dollar fine and 25 to 30 years in jail for the CEO, would not have happened.
1
Who's going to pay for the fall? FB
It's appropriate that penalties be assessed for the numerous violations of privacy foisted upon users by Facebook.
Unfortunately, every bit of the fines will be retained by the government, and NOT ONE PENNY of it will be paid to the people whose privacy was actually compromised and violated.
The penalty amount, while substantial, is a mere drop in the bucket compared to Facebook's normal cash flow, and will simply be recouped by higher fees for the data it collects and sells.
5
Good boy, Mark Z, good boy! (sarcasm)
if you welcome "new regulations", then why have you NOT implemented those not currently forced on your company?
Frankly, 40 billion (held in cash reserves) should be the penalty. 3 to 5 is nothing to them.
The damage to our democracy does not have a price.
2
These days, I have gradually and reluctantly come to regard Mark Zuckerberg as a greedy corporate villain rather than innovative tech entrepreneur.
13
Any fine in the range of $5B should require a change in corporate governance and perhaps criminal liability.
13
A 5 Billion dollar fine here, a multi-billion dollar tariff program there, before you know it all of us have paid for the rich guys tax cuts and Trump looks good with a lowered budget deficit. I mean after all, he claims to big a great deal maker, right?
I would be totally fine with Trump building the wall if the FTC fined them another $5 billion.
All businesses and especially Facebook should be required to inform their customers every time we are profiled, our contacts are replicated and our data is sold. We should be copied on each transaction and paid for our Rolodexes etc !
6
The fine is a drop in the bucket and will not change Facebook's practices as they sell our data all the time. In this case, another company harvested the data instead of Facebook but Facebook could have just as easily done the harvesting and sold the result and avoided the fine. In 2017, Equifax and Experian were hacked and our personal financial data was stolen and no fines were issued. The latter two firms should have had better security in place to avoid a hack. The US government is not consistent and certainly has no regulations in place to change company's behavior when it comes to theft and protection of personal data.
2
Fining a hugely profitable company like a bank or Facebook, money, is akin to fining the ocean, water. The supply to each is simply inexhaustible and they will never miss it.
The great equalizer is jail time! Visiting with your family every Sunday for a few years through a wire screen, works wonders on a guy, whether rich or poor.
Fining a company like Facebook will be chalked up to “a cost of doing business!”
If we want to get serious about these guys, they have to be looking at jail time.
4
Given Facebook will be an important propaganda smokescreen to hide behind as "trump" steals 2020, shouldn't "trump" just go ahead and nullify this? Or is that too simplistic? Would he rather prefer that we all THINK Facebook's been punished in an effort to persuade us that now they are no longer in his pocket?
In any case, this is all kabuki. Fooling exactly no one.
2
$3-5 billion is not a harsh penalty. That’s a slap on the wrist. FB made $55 billion last year alone.
7
This is the key paragraph:
"For Facebook, a $5 billion fine would amount to a fraction of its $56 billion in annual revenue. Any resolution would also alleviate some of the regulatory pressure that has been intensifying against the company over the past two and a half years."
This fine is an important first step. Now lawmakers need to step up and pass legislation to protect our privacy. Otherwise, after the dust has settled, Facebook and other Big Tech companies will be back to business as usual.
8
Tax deductible fine? Zuckerberg will just consider it the cost of doing business. This company is doing actual harm to the world, it should be shut down and zuckerberg should be in The Hague facing justice.
12
The WHOLE system is rigged; off topic, but the France there is a proposal that 90pct tax credit be allowed for the ‘donations’ to rebuild/repair ND Cathedral. Normal is [i think] 75pct. So the ‘donor’ lets recognition in perpetuity, BUT in fact taxpayer carries most of the burden.
Same with these fines; they are tax deductions. An individual usually cannot deduct fines/penalties - should be same for corporations [after all they are people too]
Is this why Bernie Sanders advocated voting rights for prisoners, not prison census reform? Oh, privacy invasion not a crime....yet....if it's corporate? Since privacy invasion is FB's business model, increase the fine. Impose a perpetual quarterly tax equal to 50% of its quarterly gross income. Use the money constructively (no border walls) to provide free college educations, universal health care, housing, veterans care and reparations. Other civic-minded corporate internet service providers, information gatherers and users should "donate" in the same manner.
2
@blackrose
Apparently you are not a minority where voting rights are always being taken away by voter suppression. Minorities are the first to loose there right to vote and last to get their rights restored if ever. Can you count how many jelly beans are in this jar? That question would never go to a white person. That’s a Jim Crow request that white people endorsed and supported. There are plenty of white criminal elites who have been allowed to vote.
So if you want to leave obnoxious statements learn American history. The two brothers who were Boston marathon murders were allowed into the country , received financial aid because they were white men.
Facebook is responsible for creating strife in every country by allowing constant misinformation, murders and hiring thousands of people who don’t do there jobs connected to security jobs. The same lie we will do better but never do.
The ceo has lied to the outside world about security and at this point in time they should be paying 50 billion dollars for stealing our privacy to put millions on the Facebook back account. There platform is the infrastructure foundation for stealing your privacy and the constant promotion of hate .
Technology companies need to adhere to business practices, character and begin to respect our privacy. People are not ATM machines for overpaid CEO’ who do not care for people at all. Europe will also be calling Facebook to account.
2
Should be more. There are others out there that need to be fined. Twitter, etc. Go for it.
3
Then surely the 2016 election mishaps are worth at least twice that (payable in US dollars, not rubles).
In the meantime, the $5B for ignoring privacy regs should be an escalating annual payment -- I don't see Facebook changing anytime soon (no matter how many times they apologize on Capitol Hill and Brussels).
5
Why does FB get to determine what is private? Or the FTC for that matter? Can't they make it easier for users to control where their information is going or if they want it going anywhere? I would love to be able to say "you can't follow my web browsing. If i want you to then i can sell you the information."
12
From stealing our elections, to stealing our personal data, to stealing our souls and just a fine, regardless of size? Somebody’s got friends in very high places.
10
Just remember that the $5 billion they are using to pay this fine came from selling your personal information to others and they can pay it without batting an eye. Facebook has done nothing positive in the world and has only cheapened and exploited you. Leave.
44
Did and do not miss it. Zuckerberg does not deserve anyone's trust.
7
@Berlin Exile I left 6 months ago. No problems except that some corporations want you to use their Facebook page and don't offer alternatives. These companies don't get my business.
What will happen to the $5B, that's too much money to be wasteful with. Do not let Trump get his hands on this for his wall.
Yet nary a mention of individual responsibility.
2
When the service is for 'FREE" you need to be very careful.
12
Great that the FTC is going to, finally, do its job. What I'd really like to see is for FB to respect its users and keep their data protected to the extent those customers request. And for non-users like me...we should NEVER show up anywhere in FB's databases, for sale to others or use/manipulation/profit by FB.
2
It about time.
How about an additional 20 billion to be distributed to victims of FB's violations?
Oh, and that speeding ticket my neighbor got, he'd like to negotiate a lower penalty. Same with the guys who are late with their tax forms.
5
Do we the users get some of that cash? We should.
6
Maybe you should not be a user.
1
Not only are corporations people my friend, they're a superior breed of people who get to negotiate on how much they will be fined. Like deferred prosecution agreements, where companies agree to police themselves more diligently in the future in exchange for leniency, the law only shows its teeth when its victim is as poor and defenseless as possible.
19
The EU now has the GDPR (that thing all the tech companies have told you is terrible because it actually enacts meaningful reform) while the US simply doesn't care about your privacy - this may be the largest one-time-fine ever handed out by the FTC, but it's a slap on the wrists and a clear signal to Facebook to stay the course and occasionally pay a bit of a bonus tax as their cost of doing business.
7
The outrage at Facebook compared to the relative quiet and deference people have towards the negligence and damage Equifax did with the bungling of our critical credit score information, is puzzling. Sure be outraged and demand better, but what Equifax did is far more impactful to most people’s actual livelihoods.
31
They are not mutually exclusive.
4
I am not sure if you are saying that the two companies are tied together (they aren’t), the violations are equally egregious (debatable), or something else. My point is that the credit score data presents a much more dangerous issue to people’s ability to survive in this society and yet, Equifax suffered relatively little public outcry. Perhaps, FB represents an easier political target than the powers that be challenging one of the levers of an unfair and capricious economic system. A system that punishes poor persons disproportionally.
Mr. Zuckerberg signed into a information sharing agreement with companies such as Yahoo(Verizon). All the while, users personal data was unethically taken away from them, and monetized.
Less than two years ago, users of these companies had their personal information unknowingly shared around the world. That information was turned into unimaginable profits for Facebook, and many others.
$5 billion fine is nothing to these companies
Mr. Zuckeerberg and Facebook are not alone in being culpable.
What exactly is Mr. Trumps FTC protecting?
Surely not the American people.
9
When it rains on Facebook, let it pour.
6
Shut down the internet. Period.
Consider what every government on earth is doing to try to deal with cyber-spying, stealing and cyber-war. (While you re bemoaning government expenses and our "security")
Consider the horrors we see daily as a result of 'the whole world being connected".
Be honest, and open your eyes, to the internet's facilitation of all sorts of monsters finding each other and doing mayhem without having to put their pants on or show their faces to anyone.
Look at the "social" dimensions of the internet -- endless filthy pornography, sites for married people to have sex, endless psychological programming to *need* and to *buy* by constantly being told we are lacking.
And, what about children? I know no one cares about them but I cannot even imagine having to grow up on the internet 24/7 -- available to everyone on earth and constantly being given "feedback". I have seen, in my own community, high school students' lives ruined, yes, ruined, by making a mistake on the internet.
Just look at the culture of insane throngs of the public suddenly following a stupid tweet like lemmings -- consider that Americans now believe they are *all* qualified to be judge and jury in any and all wrongdoing allegations!
The internet has proven to us that it is and will continue to be the most destructive force ever unleashed on the planet.
Left and right media will tear Zuckerberg apart trying to own the bigger piece of who punished him more in 2020 election.
3
Just a slap on wrist . The power lies with the real media to shut facebook down. This paper, the post etc must refuse Facebook their real news. Then facebooks junk news is recognised as having no authority.
At the moment the NYtimes is too afraid to stop using facebook so facebook takes the news and creates false equivalencies with fake news and terrorist propaganda.
This is deadly serious and my repeated comments on this are not even posted for fear of reducing the Times readership somewhat.
Well it has to happen.
3
Why such a tiny amount? Only 3 seconds worth of income?
I bet it will be waived anyway cuz Marky really didn't mean it.
6
Straight off the FTC website:
"The FTC’s FY 2020 budget requests a program level of $312,300,000 and 1,140 full-time
equivalent (FTE) positions. As the justification materials describe, this budget will permit the
FTC to continue to meet the ongoing challenges of its mission to protect consumers and promote
competition. Please note the FY 2019 budget levels provided in the following exhibits reflect the
level at which the FTC was operating under the continuing resolution ($306,317,000)."
So if they collect $5 Billion from FaceBook that would be enough to sustain the FTC for another 11 years... ??
1
So, this literally comes out to be about $3.19 per customer for their information (willingly or unwilling) for Facebook to use as it wishes. Our government is an absolute joke. What ever happened to the death penalty for these companies?
8
And what may I ask does the FTC plan to do with $5 Billion Dollars?
6
Good. I
hope it bleeds them and will deeply impact their business.
I still don't know why people use that spider's web of dysfunction.
3
'Facebook said on Wednesday that it expected to be fined up to $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations, in what would be a record penalty by the agency against a technology company.'
I suspect Zuckerberg will choose to take it out of the piggy bank he keeps in his bedroom closet.
1
Sorry, fines don't faze these people. They just write them off. They feel no pain for what they inflict on others. Time to put these billionaires in jail. If they did $5B worth of damage, they deserve jail as much as someone caught with a small amount of marijuana.
8
"The amount [$5 billion] would be only a small fraction of the company’s $56 billion in annual revenue."
It's too bad the article didn't put this in context. $5 billion is almost 10% of Facebook's annual revenue. That would be a pretty hefty profit for most companies, i.e., the fine could wipe out Facebook's profit for a year.
1
Facebook is one large company but it's not the whole problem. There are other bigger problems on the internet.
1. Why is the internet in America so slow and so expensive?
2. Why do we keep on hearing about data breaches from companies that ought to know how to protect the data they require from us?
3. Why don't ISPs start to provide protection instead of having users buy it, constantly update it, and pray that what they purchased works? Seems to this reader that ISPs make enough money from us that they could well afford to start providing some protection for users.
4. Why aren't there stronger protections for our privacy and fewer requests from companies for passwords, accounts, and personal information when all we want to do is troubleshoot a product, register it, or simply apply for a job without setting up an account?
5. Each time a company has a data breach we hear how they value us as customers. If they really valued us they'd protect our data far better than they do and they'd stop delaying on telling us.
6. The more companies push us to do business online the more this reader believes that that is a bad idea. In other words, I don't trust you and neither should anyone else.
7. If the internet is so great why do we still have to have written proof that we purchased an item in order to return it. Why do we still have to have the same proof when it comes to proving we paid a bill?
Write checks, have hard copies, protect yourselves.
20
The notion that our politicians and regulatory bodies would ever find the nerve to enact GDPR-level privacy protections is quite hilarious.
If we have ten more election cycles in which progressive Dems such as AOC come aboard, then we might have a chance, but as it stands now, there is insufficient integrity for anything even close to a US GDPR.
7
Why anyone is still voluntarily participating in the great experiment that is social media is beyond comprehension.
57
It’s psychological. We’re hooked on wanting to have our voice heard. The same reason why we’re all here posting our comments.
I wonder how many people have already posted and commented on this via Facebook. All the more reason to regulate.
Facebook sold out multiple countries democracies in the pursuit of profits. They should at least be made to pay heavily, although tighter regulation seems the better answer given repeated violations.
7
Until we start holding those at the top accountable, this will not go away. Zuckerberg personally read the PI of people he knew. This is a gross breach of ethical conduct, but unfortunately there are no laws to enforce sensitive data handling and privacy on a corporate entity.
Corporations aren't sufficiently enforcing their own rules and so we wind up with companies going rogue and breaching the trust of citizens. Anti trust regulation can only do so much. We need laws like the GDPR that prevent abuse of our data and enforce transparency.
6
This is an excellent time for readers to search for and review the document, “Trusted Identities in Cyberspace.” We cannot wait for the cyber war to be fought and lost over the equivocations about civil liberties.
Regulators need to stick their necks out and get on board. Americans and citizens of all free nations need to establish basic standards with redundant systems to secure their obligations and interactions, protect and privatize their identities, and secure their digital content. This is not rocket science. Our failure is the result of having overbought analog customs and cultural peculiarities foolishly peddled by politicians preserving their jobs, not doing their jobs.
Frightening, yes, and so were the first planes of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk. Please don’t succumb to being the modern equivalent of the 19th century antagonists who proclaimed “If we were meant to fly, God would have given us wings.” We can debate that until the end of time, but as long as creation allows it, we will continue to fly.
5
To paraphrase Everett Dirkson : "A Billion here and a Billion there, pretty soon it can add up to real money". So what does it matter if a company that as of 2018 was worth almost almost $140 Million was fined less than 30% of one year's revenue? Zuckerberg et al must be having quite a laugh right about now.
2
The Russians spent 100 Grand on FB Ads that practically no one noticed and they succeeded in the biggest disinformation campaign in history. Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter need to have their immunity exemption from liability for defamation/libel removed. There is a bias and according to a study from Harvard, Google’s search rankings are not objective.
19
Not enough.
88
@Mick my sentiments exactly.
6
$5 billion, where does it go? I have been a loyal Facebook user for over 10 years. I am very selective to ensure having Friends I trust but beyond that how much of my privacy and information has been compromised? I like Facebook as it does not need a smart phone with Whatsapp. If Facebook has been selling information without my authorization then I need to know. I also need to know whether Facebook decides one fine day to delete my records and I have no access to my own records or access to archives of records, I will be one angry person.
I am very angry at this point with CNN as in Cable News Network head quartered in Atlanta. I used to submit CNN ireports online to CNN when they ran a ireport enterprise to which anyone in the world could submit one's own images, videos and short articles. I submitted 100s of articles on various topics and I could access the links to my own submissions any time. Last year I tried to access the links and I was unable to access to archives of my own Intellectual property submitted as CNN ireports, after great difficulty I got to their legal Department which claimed that I need to pay a licensing fee to just get my own ireports. Then they said I need to send a fax with my request for all the information I was requesting.
At least for now Facebook is not making all the information and images and videos that I have posted evaporate. Hope CNN also does not do injustice to the thousands of ireporters who feel duped and betrayed by CNN.
1
@Girish Kotwal
FYI: You do not own that content. There is no such thing as an iReporter. It's a corporate made up ego stroke for free web content. Wanna be a reporter? Go to j-school and then also get a master's in journalism. It takes more than a cell phone and narcissism.
6
Preach it, Maggie. I’m with you on this!
4
@Maggie USA. You probably are not aware of the CNN ireporter program that CNN had and you are trying to justify their behavior and act like you are the attorney for CNN. How can CNN own something for which they paid nothing? Even if CNN was given away exclusive rights by the CNN ireporters to the material which they published online, would it not be fair to allow access to their own work?
When we post comments on NY Times, NY Times gives us a copy of the post and a link where to find it and the back and forth discussion that goes with it. How would you like it if NY Times just deletes all your posts including this condescending post of yours permanently and there is no record of it. Walk in the shoes of those CNN ireporters and walk a mile and the tell them to go to j-school which they were not interested in or could not afford. Do you even the know why CNN started the ireporter program? The great reason was to have more eyes on what is happening in every nook and corner of the world. You get a master's in journalism but what good is it if you are not at a place where news is unfolding. Master's in journalism does not give you the omnipresence required for news reporting and neither are there enough Masters in journalism to cover the entire planet.
2
What is a paltry 5 billion dollar fine when there is so much more money earned already and many more billion to go, and the fine is in lieu of actual regulation?
Now, Google is in the news because it's CEO says the Supreme Court should rule on the innovation.
None of these CEOs and certainly none of the ola guards mind having Trump as president. Elsewhere in the news, Facebook is said to have set aside three billion dollars to pay for lobbying. You can be sure that Google, Microsoft, Apple, and all the others including Twitter's CEO I'll have some money set aside for the same purpose.
---
Things Trump Did While You Weren’t Looking [2019] https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-3h2
6
@Rima Regas In other words, the big tech companies 10, the rest of us in the US, 0.
3
Well deserved and ought to be larger!
But: I've never seen it stated anywhere just what becomes of the money paid in such federal fines.
Does this money go into the treasury? Can it be used to pay down the federal debt? Could this be money for El Cheeto's wall? Etc!
New York Times, please tell us: What exactly happens to the moneys collected in federal fines??
Thank you.
18
A day? Given its daily footprint in so many lives, $5b a day is a start.
14
5B is not enough. It won't alter their behavior at all. They will just chalk it up as the cost of doing business.
Keep in mind folks... FB does not exist to serve the user, but rather to harvest the users data and sell it to 3rd parties in order to generate their revenue. They pretend otherwise, and pretend to make their revenue off of ad pull throughs, but the fact remains that they have no issues with letting 3rd parties have access to your personal data.... for a fee.
SHUT THEM DOWN until such time as they stop behaving like data pirates.
28
So is the F.T.C. going to follow this with a vicious tongue lashing and force Mark Zuckerberg to recuse from Facebook for a month?
6
$5 billion USD is pocket change for them.
Try one year’s total profits and then we are talking some pain. Until then, this is chin music.
10
I left facebook years ago. Nothing "free about it" The lack of accountability is appalling.
38
Five billion is just the start. FB has allowed (and I suspect supported) hacking of our private data. Just today it was released that about 127MM americans received phony russian, bot information. Over one and a half million of our emails were "turned over" to the russians for all sorts of schemes. Yes all of us need to be smarter in the fake online world, but still FB knew it and did nothing (or next to nothing). FB needs to be shut down...
70
@Pat
$1,000 per phony Russian bot message delivered would be a good start......and an example to carry to the Google universe of companies.
1
Good. Now make it $50B.
130
Facebook stock is way up today. When this scandal first broke and the stock plunged, I wrote in these comments that it was a buying opportunity. Turns out I was right.
3
@Rick
In my view, it is unethical to hold FB stock in one's portfolio. Why? You have to walk your talk. You cannot ballyhoo the stock as an investment opportunity while at the same time rebelling against a company like FB selling your data to 3rd parties (either directly, or as is more common indirectly through special app based access.)
You are free to do as you like, but don't come back crying later when you find your personal data was released into the wild.
3
After ALL the various leaks, hacks, and disclosures of FB blatantly just selling your information - anyone who still puts personal information on FB deserves what they get.
13
@Nick
It's worse than that. Your data can be scooped up simply by interacting with friends on line who act as a connection point to your data.
FACT: there needs to be legal, legislative, and law enforcement controls over FB because they have proven for years they will not self-comply and be ethical with peoples data.
12
Wait until "up to $5 billion" turns out to be under $1 billion.
10
Why didn't icon Sheryl Sandberg "lean in" to fix this problem?
79
If that will not be a high enough fine to put this awful company out of business, it is not high enough.
11
Why is the FTC negotiating? If Facebook is guilty of violating the 2011 agreement, hit them with both barrels!
18
@Jerry in NH
Exactly. Stop negotiating with these data pirates and put some real hurt on them. Fine them $50B and break them up (rather then allowing them to continue to gobble up any and every app or web property they decide has user data ready to be harvested and sold.
They will only ever be good stewards of peoples data when forced by the government.
6
My heart does not bleed for them.
13
I have said all along that it was going to be ONE HUNDRED TIMES LARGER than Google's civil penalty back in 2012 - read this excellent blog post about it, "Milking Cookies":
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2012/08/milking-cookies-ftcs-225-million-settlement-google
That would have made Facebook's fine $4.5B. I was very close, and it makes eminent sense. Facebook was already under FTC order, and they blew it - again. Now we're talking actual deterrence - I hope.
4
The multi billion dollar fines paid by Facebook would go a long way to hiring enough people to monitor their site and to develop algorithms which would mitigate the threats to privacy.It could pay salaries for people clever enough to design a business plan which was not dependent on collecting and selling information.Facebook rolls the dice hoping they don’t get caught and if they do they just pay the fine and write it off and keep on with business as usual.
7
Not unless President Trump gets his hands on the money!
2
The basic business model of Facebook *requires* the violation of users' privacy. But people want their privacy violated if it means they can stay in touch with ... what? Other people who reciprocate that attitude? Maybe we need to get used to the idea that as soon as you connect to the Internet, any delusion of privacy evaporates.
20
@Charles Becker
I agree that their business model absolutely relies on people giving up their personal data via a FB account.
As for the internet... I disagree... it's plenty safe enough if you exercise some real caution as to what you put out there. But putting your data in the hands of the mother of all pirate companies (FACEBOOK) is indeed effectively giving up rights to your privacy and data
3
$5 billion is chickenfeed to Facebook. They won't even feel a pinprick over that. Forget the fine. What needs to happen is that Facebook should be closed down for some period of time, say a month. And if they do it again, make it 2 months. And then 4, and 8, and 16 and... until they get the message that they can't abuse people's privacy. Or until they go out of business, which is preferable.
11
People still use Facebook?
37
Facebook’s market capitalization is 100 times the size of the New York Times corporation.
3
@Rick And you cite that market cap figure because....?
1
@Clint
Yes
1
What happens to the five billion dollars?
15
@judy
It ends up as campaign donations, pocket liners.
3
Facebook's Annual Net Incomes (NOT revenues.... profits)
2018 $22.1 billion
2017 $15.9 billion
2016 $10.2 billion
2015 $3.7 billion
2014 $2.9 billion
2013 $1.5 billion
2012 $32 million
2011 $668 million
They need several billion dollars more of heavy regulation for organ-harvesting the world's brains and personal privacy and transmogrifying the world into a sewer of digitized greed and chaos.
Delete Facebook today for a brighter tomorrow.
286
@Socrates Welcome back. You brighten my day! Please comment more often , again!
26
@Socrates
It's too late for deletion, I'm afraid.
Google CEO is calling for the the Supreme Court to rule on innovation. If Facebook set aside 3 billion dollars to spend on lobbying, how much do you think Google, Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, and everyone else will spend collectively and on their own to influence Congress and the Supreme Court?
This is all at the expense of the user oh, but it is also instead of real regulation and that is where the real crime occurs.
---
Things Trump Did While You Weren’t Looking [2019] https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-3h2
17
Hear, hear! I deleted Facebook about 2 years ago when the Cambridge Analytics scandal broke and I’ve never regretted it for even a split second.
52
Aren’t there some criminal charges they can throw at Mark an Cheryl?
Facebook is hopeless and needs to be shut down.
76
@Robert Not easily - that requires actual intent to violate the law. But Zuckerberg can, and WILL, be placed under order individually. And future violations will entail future huge civil penalties against him individually, and not just against Facebook.
3
Fine them. And fine them more for squandering our privacy.
4
Finally. Some good news this week. I closed my FB account when it was blatantly apparent that the site was cozy with the Russians, and devil take the hindmost, as long as Zuck made money for himself and his investors.
13
I'm amazed that they can negotiate their fine at all. Isn't it the FTC's job to just tell them what to cough up?
33
I don't understand why Facebook doesn't just melt, dissolve, go away.
6
Finally a piece of good news on regulation out of the Trump administration. Give credit where it is due. Now: re-fang the consumer financial protection bureau and multiply anti-trust enforcement by orders of magnitude--including breaking up Google, Amazon and FB itself.
5
@Pc
What do you want to bet Trump jumps in and blocks any fine? After all.. he has a vested personal interest in FB continuing to allow Russian trolls to troll our elections.
4
$5 billion will not get us our privacy back!
100
Sue individually!!
2020 candidate Andrew Yang's proposal for hefty taxes on the major tech companies to fund universal basic income sounds better and better every day.
168
Zuckerberg in the news was surprised Facebook was being fined after they had discussions about this with the government. Facebook came forward with this voluntarily
DiBlasio snd Carter were on television gloating about the amount of the fine
Did anyone see this ?
@Rose
Releasing the information? Not exactly voluntarily. Facebook has legal obligations to its shareholders to disclose what it knows of coming financial hits.
What about coming forward (voluntarily or not) to report to its users what has been done with their data? Where is the obligation to do that? Facebook threatened to sue the Guardian, to cow them into not publishing the Cambridge Analytica story.
Wonder how the government will squander that money which is, effectively, a tax on the companies advertising on Facebook.?
2
@George
Perhaps the government will 'squander' the fine money by bringing similar justice to other sociopathic corporations that destroy society for profit.
52
@Socrates I HIGHLY doubt it will ever do that. After all it is the super rich corporations that line the pockets (with millions of dollars) of those lucky enough to be elected 'public servants'
5
Do those who have had their privacy betrayed get this money?
35
@Getreal
No. But there are class action lawsuits pending.
I can only think 'plea bargain'. Then again, is any punishment sufficient for not saying A WORD about Russian election interference using their platform.
Thanks to the inaction of Zuckerberg and McConnell, we're stuck in this nightmare.
45
So the European fines are actually peanuts when compared with what the US charges...
4
“Speak to people in the language they understand.” Facebook understands the language of money. A fine at this scale will embolden other governments, and open Facebook’s willfully-closed ears.
85
@Charles Ward
Go back and look at the numbers...
This will not impact Facebook in any relevant way...
11
For context they made ~7 billion in net income in 2018. 5 billion is definitely going to be a very painful ding, and one that I hope actually changes their mood when it comes to privacy.
But that might just be wishful thinking.
42
@Nick S
Facebook made $7 billion in profit in JUST the 4th quarter of 2018; they made $22 billion in profit for the entire year.
They need a bigger fine to wake them up from their own sociopathy.
https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2019/Facebook-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2018-Results/default.aspx
11
When their ‘stockholders’ start bailing is when FB will start behaving. Remember that MZ has a very large portion of FB shares, BUT the market cap is set at the margins by trading prices; let that collapse.
2
Only 5 Billion? They should be fined at least 10 times that much for what they have done.
152
@Harris Silver
They should be shut down. Facebook is pure evil. Delete your account.
4
@Harris Silver
I've never had "an account" with facebook, seeing it as so much fluff as well as a waste of time. Now that I see what its "business model" is, I'm sticking to my position. But, once again, Congress will fail to do its duty and regulate this and other tech industries, having been bought by corporate campaign cash.
3
EU will probably do 20b euro
4