Facebook may have won its latest battle with the FTC, earning a financial slap on the wrist with a $5 billion fine and a clean slate moving forward. It can also make very few changes to their social media privacy policy and will face no repercussions for past behavior via bypassing social media federal regulations.
Many countries are gearing up for the war to protect individual privacy. Should governments have more of a say in global corporations, which impact almost all of humanity? The social media powerhouse is now facing scrutiny from Europe and users who not thrilled with the perceived lax reprimand, which could result in strict privacy laws at the state and federal level. The scrutiny Mark Zuckerberg is facing may mean the death knell for his antitrust actions and hot-headed legal risks spearheaded by the Department of Justice.
Facebook turned former competitors such as Instagram and WhatsApp into subsidiaries. Users must go through Facebook if they want to advertise on Instagram. And if a present competitor has popular features, the corporation immediately duplicates them. There is seemingly no stopping Facebook – it’s even become stronger since the 2018 Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, and has received very few consequences for taking such questionable social media legal risks.
The FTC hasn’t even scratched the surface of Facebook’s underlying business practices. However, Facebook is currently altering the way it gathers data instead of admitting wrongdoing. The company continues to collect user information about their interests and activities to improve their advertising, which our social media law firm and most of the planet knows is not a great look.
How does this affect you? Simple, every time you use Facebook for business or your personal life, you are essentially agreeing to give up your privacy in exchange for a few likes. Be careful of what you post to your feeds and be aware that your interests and activities are fair game for third parties.
From my standpoint as a social media attorney, Facebook has to make changes to ensure a positive public image. And the lesson here may be that the hearing really took place in the court of public opinion. Everyone is waiting to judge how the company adheres to the new social media federal regulations, especially the FTC. My advice? Facebook should find a social media lawyer (wink, wink) to put a positive spin on the situation and guide the perception of these changes.
