> "The settlement’s $5 billion penalty makes for a good headline," FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra wrote in his dissent. "But the terms and conditions, including blanket immunity for Facebook executives and no real restraints on Facebook’s business model, do not fix the core problems that led to these violations."
$5 billion of cost with shareholders' money. Not bad.
Did you read the entire FTC write up? Facebook essentially doesn't have control over how they handle privacy data anymore. I'd argue the fine is the least damaging aspect.
"As part of Facebook’s order-mandated privacy program, which covers WhatsApp and Instagram, Facebook must conduct a privacy review of every new or modified product, service, or practice before it is implemented, and document its decisions about user privacy. The designated compliance officers must generate a quarterly privacy review report, which they must share with the CEO and the independent assessor, as well as with the FTC upon request by the agency."
Facebook has to _document_ what they're doing in the privacy world. They have to prepare a report of what they did, and be willing to share it, and accept the consequences (which they already effectively do, just more opaquely).
At no point does the compliance officer have to _approve_ "how they handle privacy data any more", nor the independent assessor, nor the FTC.
They still have complete control over how they choose to behave and steer. They just have to report on it.
If they really "fixed" the core problems at Facebook, Facebook would have to cease to exist. Their business model from the very beginning has been based on collecting highly intimate personal information from everyone and using it for Zuck's gain.
Facebook ceasing to exist is probably not a bad idea, but it's rather unrealistic.
It'll probably exist forever, but the more we expose FB's rampant wrong-doing, the less people will use it. The young have already moved away from it, once older generations die off, FB will then start dying off as well...if only they weren't allowed to buy all their competitors.
The interesting part is in the write up from The Verge (https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/24/20707013/ftc-facebook-set...):
> "The settlement’s $5 billion penalty makes for a good headline," FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra wrote in his dissent. "But the terms and conditions, including blanket immunity for Facebook executives and no real restraints on Facebook’s business model, do not fix the core problems that led to these violations."
$5 billion of cost with shareholders' money. Not bad.