The billion dollar fine by the US consumer protection agency FTC in the scandal surrounding the transfer of user and user data has brought Facebook a fall in profits – now is again being investigated against the social network: Facebook said yesterday that the regulator had informed the company in June about new antitrust investigations.
Mark Zuckerberg’s group is one of the Internet giants for which the US government had announced extensive investigations into competitive practices on Tuesday (local time).
If violations of the law are found, one will act accordingly, according to the Ministry of Justice.
It will examine „whether and how leading online platforms have gained market power and participate in practices that curb competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers.“
Comparison in the Cambridge-Analytica scandal
Facebook is paying $ 5 billion (around € 4.5 billion) in a settlement with the FTC. The FTC’s record fine frees the online platform from allegations of sharing information about 87 million customers without their knowledge with the former British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The settlement payment in the data scandal struck in the second quarter with two billion dollars (1.8 billion euros) to book, as Facebook further announced. Three billion dollars (2.7 billion euros) were scheduled according to the company in the first quarter.
