FTC Slaps Facebook With Record Privacy Penalty
Privacy
As our chart shows, the penalty Facebook agreed on to settle charges of it violating a 2012 FTC order by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information, is by far the largest fine ever imposed for violating consumers’ privacy. According to the FTC, the $275 million penalty it inflicted on Equifax earlier this week for exposing the personal information of nearly 150 million people is the second-largest privacy penalty followed by $230 and $148 million fines against British Airways and Uber, respectively, both involving data breaches and, in the case of Uber, an attempted cover-up.
Along with the record-breaking fine, the settlement announced yesterday also imposes severe restriction on Facebook’s future operations, requiring the world’s largest social media company to “restructure its approach to privacy” and to establish new mechanisms “to ensure that Facebook executives are accountable for the decisions they make about privacy”. In its statement the FTC states that it takes “consumer privacy seriously”, vowing to enforce its “orders to the fullest extent of the law”.

Description
This chart shows the highest penalties in privacy enforcement actions worldwide (as of July 25, 2019)