Critics pan settlement as weak

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on Wednesday derided the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) record-breaking settlement with Facebook as weak, arguing that the final agreement does not hit Facebook’s core business model and does not require extensive government oversight of the company accused of flagrantly violating Americans’ privacy.

Almost as soon as the FTC announced its settlement with Facebook, lawmakers in both chambers emerged with scathing criticism, calling the agreement a slap on the wrist for a company that recorded almost $56 billion in revenue last year.

“This fig leaf deal releases Facebook without requiring any real privacy protections–no restraints on future data use, no accountability for top executives, nothing more than chump change financial fines,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a statement.

On the other side of the aisle, outspoken tech critic Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) slammed the deal for doing “nothing to change Facebook’s creepy surveillance of its own users [and] the misuse of user data. It does nothing to hold executives accountable. It utterly fails to penalize Facebook in any effective way.”

Multiple lawmakers pointed out that the penalties could have been tougher if the U.S. had a privacy law. Since the FTC’s investigation began over a year ago, lawmakers have not been able to work up significant draft privacy legislation as talks have broken down within a privacy working group under the Senate Commerce Committee.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the committee who recently chose to step back from the working group, said the decision “underscores the need for strong privacy legislation.”