Facebook Inc. has agreed to settle charges that it misled users about its use of their personal information, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday. The FTC, in an eight-count complaint, alleged that Facebook did not keep its promises of privacy to users on several occasions. According to the FTC, Facebook promised users it would not share their personal information with advertisers, but did so anyway. The agency also said Facebook shared much of its users’ data with third-party applications, despite its representation that such data-sharing would be limited.
The proposed settlement bars Facebook from making misrepresentations about the privacy of consumers’ personal information. It also requires the social network to obtain consumers’ approval before it changes the way it shares their data, as well as requires that Facebook obtain periodic reviews of its privacy practices by an independent auditor for the next 20 years. “Facebook is obligated to keep the promises about privacy that it makes to its hundreds of millions of users,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. “Facebook’s innovation does not have to come at the expense of consumer privacy. The FTC action will ensure it will not.”
The social network, with 800 million users world-wide, has faced repeated complaints from users that it changed policies to disclose more of their personal information without adequate notice from the company.
