Privacy group challenges $5B Facebook settlement

July 26, 2019 Updated Fri., July 26, 2019 at 6:04 p.m.

A list of settlements, violations and breaches scrolls over Facebook’s logo on a screen as David Marcus, CEO of Facebook’s Calibra digital wallet service, foreground right, appears before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (Andrew Harnik / AP)

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – A consumer privacy group has filed a challenge to Facebook’s $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, saying it is not “adequate, reasonable or appropriate” and lets the social media giant off the hook for years of violations.

The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center asked a federal district court in Washington D.C. on Friday to intervene in finalizing the settlement, which was approved 3-to-2 by the FTC.

EPIC says the deal, which also includes new privacy oversight and transparency requirements for Facebook, would extinguish more than 26,000 existing consumer complaints against Facebook that are pending at the FTC.

Facebook and the FTC did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

EPIC first filed a complaint against Facebook over privacy violations in 2009.

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Privacy group challenges $5B Facebook settlement

Jesse Tinsley

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