What's unclear is what restrictions have been put in place to monitor or regulate Facebook going forward, and why people should expect that their data will be any safer in the future. Still, the reported fine is the largest of its kind for a technology company, eclipsing the $22.5 million penalty Google paid to the FTC following a probe into its data-sharing practices. Since Facebook can clearly absorb the financial hit, additional oversight, and making executives like Mark Zuckerberg personally responsible for privacy failings may have more teeth than a fine.

Richard Lawler contributed to this report.