When the Federal Trade Commission delivered its $5 billion privacy settlement with Facebook, the agency’s leaders were harsh: “Facebook betrayed the trust of its users,” Chairman Joe Simons told reporters Wednesday. The company had engaged in “deceptive practices” and let profits shape its handling of millions of people’s data, he and two fellow commissioners charged.
The panel’s two dissenting Democrats were so outraged they voted against the historically large fine — calling it too meager to deter the giant social media company from abusing the trust of its users, and saying the agency should have considered taking Facebook to court and held CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally liable.
The Democratic anger over Facebook, echoed in lawmaker reactions to Wednesday’s deal, is the most potent sign yet of the peril Silicon Valley faces if the party regains full power in Washington: Investigations could become more intrusive, and the online industry could face punishments that have never realistically been on the table — including, Chopra suggested, a ban on the kind of behavior-based advertising that supplies Facebook’s fortune.Read More..
