FTC Finalizes Settlement Agreement with Facebook

The Federal Trade Commission announced on August 10, 2012 that it has accepted as final a settlement with Facebook that resolves charges that Facebook deceived consumers by making false privacy assurances and then repeatedly allowing consumer information to be shared and made public. The FTC's charges had included allegations that Facebook: (1) changed its website so certain information users may have designated as private was made public (without warning users this change was coming, or obtaining users' approval in advance); (2) misrepresented the level of access to user data provided to third-party apps; (3) misrepresented that it had certified the security of participating third-party apps; (4) falsely claimed that it would not share users' personal information with advertisers; (5) falsely claimed that when users deactivated or deleted their Facebook accounts, their user content would be inaccessible; and (6) misrepresented that it complied with the US – EU Safe