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Facebook shares dropped about 2 per cent on the news. They were trading at US$174.61 at 1:37 p.m. on Wednesday in New York. The stock has gained 33 per cent this year.

“We have fully cooperated with the FTC’s investigation to date and provided tens of thousands of documents, emails and files,” a Facebook representative said in a statement. “At no point did Mark or any other Facebook employee knowingly violate the company’s obligations under the FTC consent order nor do any emails exist that indicate they did.”

The Journal said it couldn’t be determined exactly what emails the FTC has requested and how many of them relate to Zuckerberg. It’s also unclear whether any of the emails, described to the Journal, show evidence that the company violated the 2012 agreement.

Facebook is at the centre of numerous investigations over misinformation and privacy on the social network, and some politicians have called for the company’s breakup. Scrutiny has intensified since reports emerged in March 2018 that the company allowed the personal details of tens of millions of users to be shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Its repeated mishandling of user data is likely to result in a record-breaking fine from the FTC, with the company in April estimating the loss related to any settlement could be as high as US$5 billion.

Seeking to stem the tide of criticism, Zuckerberg in March called for new global regulations governing the internet, recommending governments come up with rules on hateful and violent content, election integrity, privacy and data portability. He also announced that Facebook would overhaul its platform to focus on private, ephemeral and encrypted communication, an effort he said would alleviate users’ fears around privacy.

Bloomberg.com