Tech giant, Facebook Inc. said it will be paying the $5 billion record fine slammed on the company by the U.S Federal Trade Commission, FTC.
Earlier today, the FTC voted to fine Facebook for violating the privacy rights of its users after Cambridge Analytica, a defunct UK political consultancy gained access to personal details of over 87 million of Facebook users for political campaign purposes.
Apart from agreeing to pay the fine, Facebook said in a statement that has removed access to users data by Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp. as part of the settlement with the FTC.
Facebook said in a statement that the data was related to using the social media site on an earlier generation PlayStation or to sync friends’ contact information with another service. “This was our mistake, and we are correcting it,” the company said.
Facebook said the FTC settlement will require a “fundamental shift in way we approach our work.”
The FTC gave several orders to Facebook on how it will handle users’ data going forward.
The FTC said Zuckerberg or others filing a false certification could face civil and criminal penalties.
Facebook also is barred from asking for email passwords to other services when consumers sign up.
Facebook is barred from using telephone numbers obtained in a security feature, like two-factor authentication, for advertising and must get user consent if it plans to use data from facial recognition technology.
