Facebook-FTC settlement: What you need to know about the $5 billion deal

After more than a year of the dispute, Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission finally agreed to investigate the privacy issues of the social network. The result: Facebook will set up a new data protection council, CEO Mark Zuckerberg needs to certify the company’s behavior, and the social network – we can’t believe we have to write this, but we do – will encrypt your password.

Oh yeah. There was also a $ 5 billion fine, a penalty that the FTC “unprecedented. “

The agreement comes after the FTC has checked whether Facebook should have done more to prevent Cambridge Analytica, a now defunct consulting firm that has worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign, data up to 87 Skimmed off millions of users. In particular, the FTC was concerned that Facebook’s failure to protect this data violated an earlier agreement it had made to protect user privacy.

On April 23, a federal court approved the settlement between the FTC and Facebookthat was announced in July.

Here you will find everything you need to know about the settlement and how it affects you.

I am a Facebook user. How do I get some of that $ 5 billion?

Short answer: you don’t. Longer answer: Facebook users were not harmed financially, although it appears worthy of compensation to be pounded with political ads. So no fund is set up to pay the victims. Instead, the money goes directly to the US Treasury Department.

We know this is disappointing, especially if you followed the $ 700 million deal that Equifax reached after the hacking. The FTC said that the 147 million Equifax customers whose data were stolen could seek compensation for the costs of the security breach, including unauthorized charges to your account and money spent to protect yourself from the risk of identity theft protect. Approximately $ 300 million from the settlement will be used to pay consumers affected by the hack.

This is disappointing. What about a new data protection committee?

The agreement stipulates that Facebook will form a data protection committee at the level of the board of directors. The committee will do one thing: monitor Facebook privacy. And all members will be independent, which means that their day jobs cannot be on Facebook.

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Facebook FTC Settlement personally puts Zuck on the hook

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The committee will have a lot of power when it is created. It will be able to remove data protection officers who are responsible for executing company policies. It will also be able to fire the company’s data protection officer, a newly created position that evaluates Facebook’s policies and produces a report every two years. (The committee requires FTC approval to remove the examiner.)

The committee members are also well protected. A member can only be dismissed from a majority of the voting shares without reason.

I have heard about a new data protection program on Facebook. What is it about?

By and large, Facebook needs to conduct privacy checks on all new or changed products and services. These can be apps it designs, or physical products like the portal video chat device. The company must share written privacy reviews with Zuck (which appears to be common sense), the auditor, and the FTC if they want to take a look. The data protection program must contain other Facebook services such as WhatsApp and Instagram.

So is Zuck on the hook?

Yes, for everything that happens in the future. The comparison provides that it quarterly certifies that Facebook complies with its data protection program. He could count on “civil and criminal sanctions” if he does not do it or misunderstands it. He is also not the head of the independent data protection committee or assessor.

What else do I need to know about the settlement?

There are some interesting – and scary – loose ends. The social network must encrypt user passwords, must not use phone numbers that were provided as part of two-factor authentication for advertising, cannot store personal information that users have deleted on its servers, and cannot grant employees free access to user information.

That’s it, right?

As long as you don’t count the controls set up for face detection. It basically boils down to: Facebook needs to get your permission on facial recognition issues before doing anything.

What’s next?

Facebook continues to be subject to regulatory review by the FTC and other government agencies. The FTC informed the company in June that it was examining the social media giant for antitrust concerns. The Justice Department also said it is launching an antitrust review of the Internet giants and their market power, signaling that this would target social media companies like Facebook.