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Judge Warns Facebook in Approving Record $5B Fine for Alleged Privacy Violations

By Jacqueline Thomsen
April 24, 2020

A federal judge in Washington, DC, signed off on a record $5 billion fine imposed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Facebook for allegedly violating federal law and a previous order with its privacy practices.

In an opinion issued on April 23, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly of the District of Columbia approved the settlement and sharply criticized Facebook's alleged conduct, which stemmed from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. A whistleblower revealed in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica had harvested data from millions of Facebook users without their knowledge or permission and used the information for political ads.

The scandal and resulting investigation showed that Facebook was sharing user data with third parties, despite users believing that information was being kept private, according to the FTC. The FTC alleged these privacy practices were in violation of both federal law and a 2012 court order Facebook is under for past privacy violations.

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