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Confirmation of a US Government Probe Pushes Facebook's Market Loss To $90 Billion (qz.com)
The US Federal Trade Commission has confirmed that it is investigating Facebook over its privacy practices, following recent revelations that data firm Cambridge Analytica harvested and exploited tens of millions of users' data without their permission. From a report: Facebook's stock renewed its downward slide, bringing the company's total loss of market value to around $90 billion since the scandal broke 10 days ago. "The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices," said Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement.
How many businesses could lose $100 billion dollars and still be operating?
Obviously the valuation of this sort of thing is greatly overblown and has nothing to do with real world work or returns.
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
It is too bad they won't go after Equifax to the same degree they are going after Facebook.
No, but it seems that the Cambridge Analytica mess spilled over and raised more than a dozen eyebrows, and privacy concerns in the UK and here, as well. The authorities have gone into the CA office buildings before any data could be hosed.
The Reg https://theregister.co.uk/ has described how details and metadata collected would even show how much information, when someone who put FB messenger on an android phone would unwittingly list your phone and text, without you explicitly giving FB this opt-in, simply because your contact had that FB/Android combo.
Facebook is slinging so much data there is no way they have anything under control. There are probably tens of thousands of people who have access to it--the full set. ...and hundreds of thousands who have retained data sets that were supposed to be destroyed. A true First-World disaster.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
I always assumed people using Facebook didn't particularly care about what happens with their data, so I'm no sure who all of a sudden is outraged. I assumed it was way worse than this. Plus why focus on Facebook. There are data brokerage companies out there that are probably doing way creepier things than this.