EPIC vs. FTC: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is faced with with a treatment filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, also known as EPIC.
The lawsuit is intended to prevent the FTC from approving the settlement with Facebook. As we mentioned earlier this week Facebook has to pay a fine of 5 billion dollars, and implement some changes to protect privacy.
Where is the problem; the FTC was very lenient with the largest social network, as Facebook's latest earnings report shows that it is gaining three times the FTC fine in just three months.
EPIC challenges the fairness of the terms of the FTC's settlement and may cause the agency to change the terms of the deal to better deal with complaints lodged by individuals and consumer groups.
The EPIC not only mentions the size of the fine, but seems to be upset about how Facebook managed to avoid responsibility for everything it has done, as the deal with the FTC allowed the company to avoid admitting its guilt for mass privacy scandals and data leakage, like its scandal Cambridge Analytica.
EPIC also wants the court to decide whether the FTC has granted Facebook general immunity for past legal challenges and whether the scope of the settlement can be broadened to include issues such as widespread use of the recognition of a person without their consent; violations of children's privacy. Earlier this week, The Verge reported that Facebook had detected a bug in the Messenger Kids application that allowed people under the age of 13 to start group conversations with adults.
EPIC has filed numerous complaints against Facebook about the company's privacy practices. The team also reports that there are more than 26.000 other complaints against Facebook from 2011 when the company signed a consensual decree with the FTC, which allegedly would stop making the same violations. According to the New York Times. there have been 8.000 complaints submitted by consumers only 2018.
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