US regulators have approved a record $5 billion fine on Facebook to settle an investigation into data privacy violations over cambridge scandal .
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating allegations that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained the data of up to 87 million Facebook users.
The consumer protection agency the FTC began investigating Facebook in March 2018 following reports that Cambridge Analytica had accessed the data of tens of millions of its users.
The investigation focused on whether Facebook had violated a 2011 agreement under which it was required to clearly notify users and gain “express consent” to share their data.
The fine still needs to be finalised by the Justice Department’s civil division, and it is unclear how long this may take, the sources said. If confirmed, it would be the largest fine ever levied by the FTC on a tech company.
Cambridge Analytica was a British political consulting firm that had access to the data of millions of users, some of which was allegedly used to psychologically profile US voters and target them with material to help Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The social giant Facebook has said it believes the data of up to 87 million users was improperly shared with the now defunct consultancy.