Facebook announced in a statement signed by its legal vice president, Colin Stretch, that it has reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which offers a new framework for protecting the privacy of people and data shared on the social network.
This agreement will require the company to change the way the company works on this issue – and privacy management issues are notorious. The company itself admits that it will have to insert additional responsibilities into the team that builds its products at all levels of the company, in ways never before done by Facebook.
This means, in practice, that the level of responsibility required by this agreement goes beyond what is established by current law in the United States. The network run by Mark Zuckerberg expects this level to be a model for the industry, with stricter processes for identifying privacy risks, more documentation about those risks, and more measures to ensure the company complies with the new requirements. .
The company’s idea is that in the future, the privacy approach will be similar to the company’s financial controls, with a rigorous process of individual certifications to ensure everything is fully operational.
The deal also provides Facebook with a $ 5 billion fine to settle claims that the company violated a deal with the Commission in 2012. The amount is much higher than any amount ever paid by another company to the FTC.
The investigation began with Cambridge Analytica-related events that exploded last year. According to Facebook, the deal has the function of rebuilding brand trust towards people. According to the company, transparency and accountability will be two conducting wires.
The privacy program we are building, when judging from the changes we have already made, is a big step in terms of resources and accountability. Let’s be more firm in ensuring that we identify, evaluate and mitigate privacy risks. We will take new approaches to document in greater detail the decisions we make and monitor their impacts. We will also introduce more technical controls to better automate privacy safeguards. And every Facebook employee will need to confirm that they have read the content of the FTC deal. ”
Colin Stretch, Facebook’s Vice President of Legal Affairs
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Facebook will have quarterly certifications to verify that your privacy controls are working and, if not, commit to correcting them. The process will be overseen at all levels by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who will sign privacy reports. A Facebook board of directors committee will be convening every quarter to ensure the company is in compliance with its commitments
Source: br.newsroom.fb.com