“Facebook may be fined billions in the U.S.

Facebook is negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on a settlement of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The FTC would consider imposing its highest fine ever for last year’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. Of course, Facebook does everything in its power to keep the fine as low as possible.

That’s what The Washington Post is writing today in an article. The highest fine ever handed out by the FTC to a tech company dates from 2012, when Google had to pay 22.5 million dollars for the Safari tracking scandal. For Facebook, however, the issue is more serious, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed the data of millions of users to companies that wanted to influence elections with it.

Trillions of fine

Mark Zuckerberg’s company admitted in 2018 that the data had been collected from millions of users by Cambridge Analytica. The FTC then decided to launch an investigation to find out whether Facebook had violated certain agreements about the privacy of users. If nothing comes out of the discussions between the FTC and the social network, a judge could decide. Then there may be an even bigger fine.

The maximum fine that Facebook will face is $41,484 per person affected. Given that millions of people, some estimates put it at around 87 million, have been affected, the fine soon rises to more than three trillion dollars. The fine won’t be that high. But it does show why Facebook is worried about the case. For the FTC, it is also important that the fine is at least several billions, otherwise the company will not feel it.

Neither Facebook nor the FTC would like to know what amounts are being discussed. Facebook informed CNet that the company cooperates with officials in the United States, the United Kingdom and beyond. We have made public statements, answered questions and promised our continued cooperation as their work progresses.