EPIC requested a hearing where the court could review the fairness of the Facebook agreement and consider consumer groups’ complaints. If the court decides to grant such a hearing, a judge could require the trade commission to review outstanding consumer complaints and alter the terms of the proposed settlement.

EPIC, which said it had several outstanding complaints against Facebook, also argues in its filing that the trade commission violated its own mandate to thoroughly review consumer complaints when it agreed, as part of the proposed deal, to shield the tech giant from pending accusations lodged by consumers and consumer groups. The filing, in federal court in Washington, effectively challenges the F.T.C.’s fitness to act as the nation’s privacy enforcer even as some members of Congress are floating the idea of creating a separate data protection agency to safeguard Americans’ personal information.

James A. Kohm, associate director for the enforcement division of the trade commission’s bureau of consumer protection, said the agency had thoroughly investigated the complaints it had received about Facebook from consumer groups and media reports as well as information it obtained independently from other sources.

One complaint from a consumer group, for instance, was related to Facebook’s use of facial-recognition technology. The F.T.C. said it had addressed issues raised by the complaint in several of the settlement’s provisions, including a requirement that Facebook ask consumers to opt in to new uses of the technology that the company had not previously disclosed.

As is typical in such investigations, some consumer complaints could not be substantiated, Mr. Kohm said.