Anurag Kumar
Wednesday, the top US data privacy regulator accused Facebook-owned Meta of violating its data privacy commitments and threatened severe penalties if the company did not comply.
An independent investigation, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Washington, uncovered “several gaps and weaknesses in Facebook’s privacy program” that posed “substantial risks to the public.”
After it was disclosed that the personal information of tens of millions of Facebook users improperly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked on former president Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, the FTC began its investigation in 2018.
Facebook agreed in a 2019 settlement to pay a $5 billion fine for privacy violations and to enable regular audits of its privacy practices.
The FTC stated on Wednesday that Meta misled parents regarding parental controls, as children under 13 were still permitted to communicate with unscreened contacts.
The regulator stated that Facebook continued to grant access to private information to third-party apps despite promising to terminate access if users had not used the apps within the previous 90 days.
Consequently, the FTC seeks to compel Meta to halt the release of new products until independent auditors determine that the company’s privacy policies are compliant.
The FTC also threatens to prohibit Meta from profiting from children’s data.
Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Facebook, branded the FTC’s action a “political stunt” and an overreach of its authority.
ALSO READ :Late-night Jantar Mantar brawl between protesting wrestlers and police.
Stone stated that despite three years of continuous engagement with the FTC regarding our agreement, there was no occasion to discuss this new, completely unprecedented theory.
FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, who will cast the deciding vote on whether to proceed with the threat, questioned his agency’s authority to restrict the commercialization of children’s data.
He approved Wednesday’s warning but added that he welcomes additional arguments and will examine them “with an open mind.”
