Record Facebook fine won’t end scrutiny of the company

Federal Trade Commission FTC Chairman Joe Simons speaks during a news conference about Facebook settlement at FTC headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook survived its latest brush with US privacy regulators, at the cost of a record US$5bil (RM20.59bil) fine and other restrictions imposed by the Federal Trade Commission. But it’s far from home free. 

While the company looks set to prosper in the wake of the FTC case, it faces a series of other investigations into its privacy practices in Europe and across the US. Concerns over the limits of the just-settled probe could fuel efforts to craft tougher privacy laws at the state and federal level.