Facebook details privacy work as US FTC discusses antitrust lawsuit

The announcement came after media reports claimed that a federal antitrust probe targeting Facebook appears to have entered its late stages and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) members have made a recommendation to the agency's commissioners

San Francisco: Facing an intense scrutiny over user privacy and data security, Facebook has said it is continuing to invest in research and innovation that will help it build privacy-safe products and develop new ways to process data.

The announcement came after media reports claimed that a federal antitrust probe targeting Facebook appears to have entered its late stages and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) members have made a recommendation to the agency’s commissioners on whether to file an antitrust complaint against Facebook.

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Facebook said on Friday that it will “continue working with policymakers, privacy experts and others on emerging privacy areas as we build solutions to ensure people feel safe and comfortable using our products”.

Over the past several months, said Facebook, it has made changes to Public Groups and built new products like Shops on Facebook and Instagram, Facebook Campus and Accounts Center.

“Thanks to effective collaboration across multiple teams at Facebook, these products all succeed in giving people the best experience, while also honoring their privacy,” said Michel Protti, Chief Privacy Officer, Product.

“This is made possible by our revamped Privacy Review process, which helps ensure every new product or feature is built with privacy in mind, meaning it has the appropriate tools and processes in place to help address potential risks and protect people’s information”.

In April this year, a federal court approved Facebook’s agreement with the FTC.

As part of the agreement, Facebook formed a Privacy Committee of its Board of Directors for overseeing risks related to privacy and data use.

According to the Washington Post, a lawsuit against Facebook would spark another legal war between the US administration and Silicon Valley after the Justice Department and 11 states accused Google of violating antitrust laws in a case filed earlier this week.

Facebook said that with the agreement with FTC now in place, executive leaders at the company, including its CEO, will certify our compliance with it quarterly and annually to the FTC.

“We are also creating a new Privacy Committee on our Board of Directors that will be comprised solely of independent directors, and we’ll work with a third-party, independent assessor who will regularly and directly report to the Privacy Committee on our privacy program compliance,” Facebook informed.