Freedom from Facebook files FTC complaint against Facebook

Freedom from Facebook filed a legal complaint at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week, calling on the agency to investigate Facebook’s recent breach of 50 million users’ accounts. Facebook has repeatedly failed to protect the personal information of millions of its users despite its decades long promises to improve.

The FTC complaint comes days after a New York Times report revealed that, despite repeated denials, Facebook was well aware that the Russian government had used its platform to meddle in the 2016 election. The report also detailed how Facebook hired PR firms to go after its critics, including Freedom from Facebook.

Freedom from Facebook is a coalition working to curb Facebook’s monopoly power over social media communications. The coalition advocates breaking up Facebook, with a spin off of Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, and urges the adoption of strong privacy rules.

Links:

Facebook fails to protect its users’ online privacy – again (Speed Matters, Oct. 1, 2018)

Why Zuckerberg’s 14-year apology tour hasn’t fixed Facebook (Wired, Apr. 6, 2018)

Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis (New York Times, Nov. 14, 2018)

FTC Legal Complaint Release (Freedom from Facebook, Nov. 15, 2018)