Facebook in the News! Federal Trade Commission Announces “Rigorous New Standards” Regarding Privacy Following a $5 Billion Penalty
Facebook has been in the news A LOT in the past few days. We decided to round up everything going on to help our wonderful followers stay up to date!
The biggest news of course is that in addition
to a historic $5 billion settlement, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Facebook have announced “sweeping new privacy restrictions” to be implemented on the social
media platform.
The $5 billion penalty is the largest ever to be imposed
against a company for violation of consumers’ privacy. This morning, this
penalty was officially disclosed in addition to a stipulated order that can be
read in its entirety here. Many have been critical that the FTC did not go far enough in imposing high enough of a penalty. However, at the press conference this morning, Commissioner Phillips made a point to note that "this penalty is to pay for the wrongs of this case, not to vindicate every consumer in the U.S."
After a
year-long investigation, the Department of Justice filed a complaint alleging
that Facebook used deceptive disclosures to violate users’ privacy preference
in violation of its 2012 order. Facebook was allegedly sharing
users’ personal information with third-party apps that were downloaded by
users’ Facebook friends. Many of these users were unaware this information was
being shared so could not take the steps needed to opt out of sharing. Further,
Facebook didn’t take the proper steps to contend with apps that were violating
its policies.
The order
imposes greater accountability both on the board of directors level and the
individual level. It also “strengthens external oversight” of the platform and
requires Facebook to conduct privacy reviews of every new or modified product
and service.
Mark
Zuckerberg released a statement stating, “As we build our
privacy-focused vision for the future of social networking that I outlined
earlier this year, it's critical we get this right. The next focus for our
company is to build privacy protections as strong as the best services we
provide.”
Facebook Has Also Resolved an Ongoing
Investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Has to Pay Up $100
Million
Following
the data abuse that occurred in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the SEC told
Facebook it should have better processes in place to ensure disclosures of such
abuse. Facebook agreed it should be more transparent with its investors about
risks regarding data and updated its controls and disclosures. Additionally, it
paid a $100 million penalty.
FTC Sues Cambridge Analytica
The proposed
settlement restricts how defendants—app developer Aleksander Kogan and former
CEO Alexander Nix—conduct business in the future and requires them to destroy
any personal information they collected. Cambridge Analytica has filed for
bankruptcy.
Facebook Flaw Allowed Kids to Join
Unauthorized Group Chats
And as if Facebook doesn't have enough going on, Facebook’s Messenger
Kids app has found itself in hot water as well. Messenger Kids allows for children to interact with users who have
been pre-approved by a parent. This week, however, news of a design flaw arose.
The defect allowed kids to enter group chats with strangers, affecting
potentially thousands of children worldwide.
While Facebook hasn’t made a public statement regarding the
misstep, it has been shutting down the problematic group chats and alerting
users with the following message:
“Hi [PARENT], We found a technical error that allowed [CHILD]’s friend [FRIEND] to create a group chat with [CHILD] and one or more of [FRIEND]’s parent-approved friends. We want you to know that we’ve turned off this group chat and are making sure that group chats like this won’t be allowed in the future. If you have questions about Messenger Kids and online safety, please visit our Help Center and Messenger Kids parental controls. We’d also appreciate your feedback.”
In a normal, one-on-one chat, children using Messenger Kids
must initiate the conversation themselves with a parent-approved user. The
technology gets trickier when applied to multi-user chats; in this instance,
users in a group chat could invite whoever they were authorized to, which meant
children could approve the invitations extended to them and enter into the
chats.
A Facebook representative told The
Verge, “We turned off the affected chats and provided parents with
additional resources on Messenger Kids and online safety.” However, if you’re a
parent of a child on this app, be alert to the activities that he or she has
been engaged in.
What an Extravaganza!
We hope you found this post helpful. We didn't want the Mueller interview to overshadow all this important news in the privacy industry. We hope that after this case that it will lead companies to raise the bar with regards to privacy practices now that they know the FTC is out there, ready to act.