The Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal resulted in Facebook being hit with a historic fine. After investigating the data breach, the FTC determined the platform had to pay $5 billion, reportedly the most expensive user privacy penalty a company had ever received at the time. The FTC also decided that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp needed to make a better effort to protect user privacy.
Mark Zuckerberg addressed the FTC’s decision in a lengthy Facebook post. “We’ve formally reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission about privacy,” he penned. “We’ve agreed to pay a historic fine, but even more important, we’re going to make some major structural changes to how we build products and run this company. We have a responsibility to protect people’s privacy. We already work hard to live up to this responsibility, but now we’re going to set a completely new standard for our industry.” The CEO went on to detail some of the measures Facebook has taken to protect its users.
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A lawsuit filed by shareholders in 2021 alleged that Facebook agreed to pay this hefty fine in an attempt to prevent Zuckerberg from being held personally accountable. “The Board has never provided a serious check on Zuckerberg’s unfettered authority,” one shareholder claimed (via Politico). “Instead, it has enabled him, defended him, and paid billions of dollars from Facebook’s corporate coffers to make his problems go away.”
