Facebook in a recent statement came out to tell their users that they have agreed to pay $5 billion that has been charged on them to resolve the privacy violations case that has been going around for almost two years, the company has reached a settlement offer that has been decided by the US investigators. This agreement bought up by the Federal Trade Commission, will for the first time put an end to Mark Zuckerberg’s final authority and say over the privacy decisions he is also the chief executive officer, this will be done by creating an independent privacy committee of directors on the company’s board.
This new accord also requires Facebook to keep a much tighter check on third-party apps. Passwords should not be using telephone numbers of people who use the app. This also calls for Facebook to conduct privacy reviews of new offerings from time to time and to check if users’ privacy is intact. However, Still this agreement that has been approved by the FTC’s Republican by the majority of 3-2 vote, does little to alter Facebook’s structural data collection practices which are at the heart of the privacy scandal, the fine published against Facebook is nothing in comparison to what the company makes yearly, the stats of 2018 show that Facebook made a handsome amount of $56 billion.
Facebook came up with a statement recently saying “The agreement will require a fundamental shift in the way we approach our work and it will place additional responsibility on people building our products at every level of the company” they also added “It will mark a sharper turn toward privacy, on a different scale than anything we’ve done in the past” and they hope they can be a model for the industry.
A new documentary is coming this month on Netflix, that will talk about the privacy scandal of Facebook it is called ‘the great hack’ this show will take a more in-depth look into the algorithm of how personal data is stolen via social media sites and used to sell and promote things to the views, one of the primary use of which is the ads that we can see being advertised on various social media site.
FTC Chairman Joseph Simons said a few things about the recent privacy changes that have been demanded by Facebook “The magnitude of the $5 billion penalty and sweeping conduct relief are unprecedented in the history of the FTC, he also added “The relief is designed not only to punish future violations but, more importantly, to change Facebook’s entire privacy culture to decrease the likelihood of continued violations.” We really hope and wish that Facebook has learned their lesson and will improve their terms and conditions regarding privacy, and no more data-stealing takes place via Facebook, and consumers are safe and sound. However, many people believe that the settlement is not the right decision to the case as the company will still go on to make a fortune, and paying the penalty will not stop the makers.