The Blubber

Per CNBC

The FTC stated that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, violated a privacy order of 2020. Because of that, they are proposing that the parent company would not be able to use kids' data from its monetization efforts.

This was after "several gaps and weaknesses" were reportedly found in the privacy program of Facebook. The FTC notes that they were a great risk to the public.

Aside from Facebook's $5 billion settlement for the civil penalty regarding the data scandal at Cambridge Analytica, the company reportedly agreed that it would be launching an "independent assessment of its updated privacy program."

This was part of the 2020 settlement, but aside from this, the FTC alleges that the social platform violated an earlier order made in 2012. The violation included the platform still providing information access to app developers.

Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya gave a statement regarding the matter. He noted that he had concerns regarding whether the alleged violations warrant a change.

Bedoya: “There are limits to the Commission’s order modification authority... a nexus between the original order, the intervening violations, and the modified order.”

Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, also commented on the matter regarding the platform's efforts regarding their privacy program.

Stone: “We have spent vast resources building and implementing an industry-leading privacy program under the terms of our FTC agreement. We will vigorously fight this action and expect to prevail.”

The settlement was reportedly over five times what the company had to spend in order to lay off its employees. In the fourth quarter, the company spent $975 million in severance costs.

This came as the company laid off 11,000 employees.

In another settlement, a class action lawsuit resulted in Meta having to pay $725 million in settlement for users that had Facebook accounts between May 2007 and December 2022.

See flow at unusualwhales.com/flow.

Other News:

• Meta spent almost a billion in Q4 just to layoff its employees
• Meta class action lawsuit results in $725 million settlement for users that had Facebook accounts between May 2007 and Dec 2022

Resources:

CNBC