FTC split on punishing Mark Zuckerberg in settlement with Facebook

Federal regulators are split on whether to hold Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally responsible for data privacy issues at the social network.

According to the New York Times, the Federal Trade Commission’s negotiations with the social network are coming to a close yet the agency’s five commissioners are still unable to agree on how to deal with the Facebook founder.

Sources familiar with the talks tell the Times that along with the dissent over Zuckerberg, the FTC is also wrestling with the exact financial penalty to be levied against the company. Facebook is expecting to pay a record-breaking fine of somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion.

Facebook has already agreed to additional proposals included in the settlement which will increase oversight on the company. The social network would be tasked with hiring privacy officials at the leadership level and setting up a committee on the board focused on its data issues.

The FTC would also appoint an independent watchdog to oversee Facebook’s data practices.

One proposal Facebook would not agree to, which is also a major point of debate among FTC commissioners, is holding CEO Mark Zuckerberg “personally responsible” for the company’s data mishandling.

FTC chairman Joseph J. Simons likely has the votes necessary to approve a deal without stronger punishments for the social network, according to the Times’ sources. However, the Republican chairman is looking for a bipartisan agreement on the deal and is still seeking the vote of at least one of the agency’s two Democratic commissioners.

The stakes could not be higher. The previous largest fine levied against a tech company was $22.5 million in 2012 when Google was found to be misrepresenting how certain tools were tracking people.

The FTC opened the investigation into Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which broke in 2018.

The Facebook settlement is expected to send a strong message to other Silicon Valley tech companies when it comes to policies that abuse users’ privacy.