A Bit More on Facebook v. F.T.C.

Last week’s newsletter highlighted some excellent reporting behind the scenes of the F.T.C.’s investigation into Facebook (which resulted in a $5 billion fine but didn’t do much to change the company’s data collection practices). A week later, more information is coming out. I was struck by this line from a Sunday MSNBC interview with F.T.C. commissioner Rohit Chopra. When asked if there was more the F.T.C. could have done, Chopra seems to suggest that the Facebook investigation was never even finished:

“I was frustrated that we stopped the investigation before we really knew what was going on. We did not collect the documents in Mark Zuckerberg’s hands; we did not hear his testimony under oath; we didn’t not come up with why this business model is fundamentally broken.”

As Open Markets’ Matt Stoller pointed out on Twitter Monday, there seems to be a broad pattern in the Facebook investigation of deferring to the platform to secure a large-sounding fine. Stoller pointed to a December article where an F.T.C. enforcement official, “echoing Facebook’s own argument,” seemed to think the company was not fully responsible for data breaches and had taken steps to fix the problems.

The same official, Stoller points out in a subsequent tweet, told reporters last week at an F.T.C. news conference that the company used (traded) deposing Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg to land the $5 billion fine.

“Part of getting the tremendous result with the tools we had is we didn’t need to depose him but we could use that to get more protections for the public.”

Now, I’m no regulator, but not finishing an investigation would seem like a textbook example of letting a company that’s repeatedly violated orders off the hook!

[If you’re online — and, well, you are — chances are someone is using your information. We’ll tell you what you can do about it. Sign up for our limited-run newsletter.]

Come See The Privacy Project: Live!

San Francisco readers! The Privacy Project is coming to your town this week. If you’re in the Bay Area, I’ll be at the San Francisco Public Library on Wednesday, with my colleagues Sarah Jeong, Farhad Manjoo and Jenée Desmond-Harris. Join us at 6:30 p.m. for a discussion about the most pressing privacy issues and how we approach them in our own personal lives. Oh, and it’s free. More details here. See you there!