Facebook vs the feds: The tech giant will have to pay a record fine for violating users’ privacy. But the FTC wanted more.
The package of penalties for Facebook’s past privacy scandals includes a record-breaking $5 billion fine and unprecedented government oversight of its business practices. But a review of the 16-month investigation — described by 10 people familiar with the matter — shows that the Federal Trade Commission stopped short of some even tougher punishments it initially had in mind. Those included fining Facebook not just $5 billion, but tens of billions of dollars, and imposing more direct liability for the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.