Cambridge Analytica

Facebook warned investors on potential FTC fine of $3 to $5 billion from upcoming Facebook settlement in Cambridge Analytica scandal, the company could be forced to create new privacy oversight review board reporting to FTC.

Over the past year while FTC is conducting its Facebook investigation, Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly claimed full responsibility for privacy issues, and now it appears FTC might really hold Mark personally accountable for these lapses.

Facebook responds to 1,200 questions posed by U.S. lawmakers on its data privacy practices. It seems that as long as the questions keep coming, Facebook can safely delay and mitigate the risk of regulatory or legal action.

In a 229-page document, Facebook attempted to provide some clarity for questions from the congressional testimony to the U.S. House and Senate in April. Here are 10 things you might have missed.

Despite Facebook pledging that it has figured out its problems, new revelations of data sharing with 60 different device makers has now come to light.

The congressional testimony was supposed to establish a national debate about data privacy and the right of users to protect their data from being sold, used, or analyzed in ways that were never intended. Instead, it has become very clear that regulating privacy is harder than anyone originally expected.

After nearly two months of non-stop controversy and scandal over its improper use of Facebook data, Cambridge Analytica finally announced that it was ceasing operations, effective immediately. In doing so, Cambridge Analytica has become the new poster child to highlight the perils of data security breaches.

As much as Facebook would like to sweep the Cambridge Analytica data scandal under the rug, signs continue to mount that the company is still playing fast and loose with user data. All this raises the question of whether the 2011 FTC settlement that resulted in an 8-count consent decree actually went far enough.

Of all the legislation currently on the horizon, the Honest Ads Act seems to have the best chance of passage. The legislation is easy to understand and has bilateral support as well as the tacit support of Facebook, which is under pressure to show that it is changing and has the best interests of users at heart.

The Facebook Cambridge Analytica data scandal has garnered attention worldwide for helping to spotlight a very real problem with data privacy on the Internet. CPO Magazine will be providing ongoing coverage as we believe this to be a pivotal moment which will shape the future of how tech companies use consumer data.