Facebook agrees to pay USD 5 billion penalty for privacy violations
Washington: Social media giant Facebook has agreed to "significantly enhance" its oversight practices and will pay a whopping USD 5 billion to the Federal Trade Commission as penalty for privacy violations, in the largest ever security fine imposed on any company for disregarding consumer information.
In addition to paying the record USD 5 billion in penalty, Facebook has also agreed to submit itself to new restrictions and a modified corporate structure that will hold the company accountable for the decisions it makes about its users' privacy.
Facebook agreed to all this in order to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that the company violated a 2012 FTC order by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information.
"Among other matters, our settlement with the FTC requires us to pay a penalty of USD 5.0 billion and to significantly enhance our practices and processes for privacy compliance and oversight," Facebook said.
"In particular, we have agreed to implement a comprehensive expansion of our privacy programme, including substantial management and board of directors oversight, stringent operational requirements and reporting obligations, and a process to regularly certify our compliance with the privacy programme to the FTC," the social media giant said.
The USD 5 billion penalty against Facebook is the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers' privacy and almost 20 times greater than the largest privacy or data security penalty ever imposed worldwide.
It is one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the US government for any violation, FTC said.
The settlement order announced Wednesday also imposes unprecedented new restrictions on Facebook's business operations and creates multiple channels of compliance.
The order requires Facebook to restructure its approach to privacy from the corporate board-level down, and establishes strong new mechanisms to ensure that the company executives are accountable for the decisions they make about privacy, and that those decisions are subject to meaningful oversight.
"Despite repeated promises to its billions of users worldwide that they could control how their personal information is shared, Facebook undermined consumers' choices," said FTC Chairman Joe Simons.
"The magnitude of the USD 5 billion penalty and sweeping conduct relief are unprecedented in the history of the FTC. The relief is designed not only to punish future violations but, more importantly, to change Facebook's entire privacy culture to decrease the likelihood of continued violations," he said.
The Commission takes consumer privacy seriously, and will enforce FTC orders to the fullest extent of the law, he asserted.
According to Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt this settlement's historic penalty and compliance terms will benefit American consumers, and the Department expects Facebook to treat its privacy obligations with the utmost seriousness.
It is estimated that more than 2.1 billion people now use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger every day on average, and more than 2.7 billion people use at least one of these services each month.
Facebook said that online technology industry and the company had received increased regulatory scrutiny in the past quarter.
In June 2019, it was informed by the FTC that it had opened an antitrust investigation of the company. In addition, in July 2019, the Department of Justice announced that it will begin an antitrust review of market-leading online platforms.
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Allu Arjun didn't leave theatre despite being told about woman's death: Hyderabad police
Hyderabad, Dec 22: Top Telugu actor Allu Arjun did not leave the theatre during the screening of 'Pushpa-2' on December 4 despite being told to do so in view of a stampede in which a woman died, police officials claimed on on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference on the annual round-up of 2024, city police commissioner C V Anand showed a video, made by police, on the situation that prevailed when the stampede occurred.
The video was made by collating footage, including from news channels and cell phone clips. It suggests the actor remained in the theatre till the midnight.
Anand did not make any comment on the video, but said the media can draw its own conclusions.
A police official talked about the sequence of events on the fateful night of December 4.
He said that he and other police officials informed a manager of Allu Arjun about the death of the woman and told him that the situation was out of control. He indicated that they were not allowed to meet the actor.
Allu Arjun's staff members told them that they would convey the matter to the actor but did not do so, he said.
The official said he later managed to reach the actor, told him about the woman's death and asked him to leave the theatre so that the fans don't harm each other while trying to catch a glimpse of him.
The official also told the actor that security arrangements would be made for his exit.
However, the actor said he would go only after watching the film, the police official said.
Later, accompanied by a senior officer, the official went inside and brought the actor out, he said.
Amid allegations that bouncers hired by Allu Arjun pushed crowds as well as policemen when the stampede occurred at the cinema hall, the police commissioner warned that stringent action as per law would be taken if THE bouncers indeed misbehaved with the police on duty.
The VIPs would be made responsible for the behaviour of the bouncers hired by them, he said.
Asked if the police would appeal against the interim bail granted to Allu Arjun, the commissioner refused to give a direct response, just saying it is part of the investigation.
What course of action is taken would be known in the days to come, he said.
He also declined to comment when asked if the family of the deceased told him about Allu Arjun's team or film production team allegedly threatening them not to speak on the issue.
Meanwhile, state Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy found fault with Allu Arjun responding on Saturday to the debate in the Legislative Assembly.
The minister, who observed that the actor should have respect for the government and the chief minister, demanded an apology from Allu Arjun to the government and the CM.
"This government is never vindictive. As Cinematography Minister, we allowed benefit shows and hiking ticket prices to promote the film industry," he said.
However, Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar found fault with CM Revanth Reddy for his comments on Allu Arjun in the Assembly on Saturday.
The comments of the CM sounded like character assassination of Allu Arjun and hurting the Telugu film industry, he alleged in a statement.
Later in the day, Sanjay Kumar visited a boy who is undergoing treatment in a hospital after being injured in the stampede.
"Consoled his father over the heartbreaking loss of his wife, Revathi. I pray to god that Sritej recovers at the earliest. Assured support to the family in this difficult time," Kumar said on X.
Earlier in the day, state DGP Jitender told reporters in Karimnagar district that film personalities and all others should understand that safety and security of citizens is utmost important, and also conduct themselves accordingly.
