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ARTICLE · 08 JUNE 2020

Facebook To Pay $9 Million Penalty Under Canada's Competition Act

Gardiner Roberts LLP
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On May 19, 2020 the Competition Bureau announced that Facebook Inc. will pay a $9 million administrative monetary penalty ("AMP"), and an additional $500,000 for the costs of the Bureau's...

CanadaAntitrust/Competition Law
Kenneth Jull
Kenneth Jull
Jonathan Nehmetallah
Jonathan Nehmetallah
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On May 19, 2020 the Competition Bureau announced that Facebook Inc. will pay a $9 million administrative monetary penalty ("AMP"), and an additional $500,000 for the costs of the Bureau's investigation, after concluding that the company made false or misleading claims about the privacy of Canadians' personal information on Facebook and Messenger.1

While the $9 million dollar AMP may be one of the largest levied by the Competition Bureau it pales in comparison to the fine levied in the United States. Last year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission levied a $5-billion fine against the company, the largest it has ever imposed on a tech company. However, the Canadian legislation governing AMPs limits the monetary penalties to $10 million, unless multiple violations were committed (and even then there is some controversy as to whether a penalty could exceed $10 million).

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