UPDATED 15:18 EDT / APRIL 19 2019

POLICY

Reports: FTC may hold Zuckerberg accountable for Facebook’s privacy problems

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering a plan to hold Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg accountable for the company’s privacy blunders, according to two new reports.

The Washington Post and NBC News today cited sources as saying that FTC officials are looking at Zuckerberg’s public statements in connection with an effort to determine whether to levy any penalties against the CEO.

One idea that has reportedly been floated is imposing “heightened regulatory oversight.” The FTC is also said to be mulling an order that would require Zuckerberg to report periodically on the social network’s privacy practices to the board of directors.

According to the tipsters, the internal discussions are part of the investigation into Facebook that the FTC launched last year. It came as a response to the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, had managed to harvest data on up to 87 million of the social network’s users. The FTC is examining if the incident violated a 2011 deal with Facebook over its privacy practices.

Facebook is reportedly holding talks with the agency about another settlement. The company’s representatives have “fought fiercely” to shield Zuckerberg from the investigation, according to one of the sources cited in today’s reports.

The potential penalty against the CEO is reportedly just one of several items that came up in the negotiations. Earlier this year, word emerged that a settlement between the FTC and Facebook could include a multibillion-dollar fine with the potential to be largest ever handed out by the agency to a tech firm.

The FTC isn’t the only government body investigating the company. The Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice have also been looking into Facebook’s privacy scandals. In one of the latest developments, it was reported last month that federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the company’s data sharing deals with other tech firms.

Against the backdrop of these probes, Facebook this week admitted to yet more privacy missteps. The company disclosed that it had harvested the email contacts of 1.5 million users without their consent and stored millions of Instagram users’ passwords in plain text.

Photo: quintanomedia/Flickr

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