Facebook to create privacy oversight committee with Zuckerberg personally accountable for data privacy, claims report

Move comes as Facebook faces fine of up to $5bn over lackadaisical attitude to users' privacy

Facebook will create a privacy oversight committee as part of its recent agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to reports.

According to Politico, Facebook will appoint a government-approved committee to help guide the company on privacy matters. This committee will also consist of company board members.

The plans would also see Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg act as "a designated compliance officer", meaning that he would be personally responsible and accountable for Facebook's privacy policies.

Last week, it was reported that Facebook could be slapped with a fine of up to $5 billion over its handling of user data and privacy.

As part of first quarter financial reports, the company announced that it had set aside $3 billion of legal expense related to the FTC inquiry into its platform and user data practices.

The plans would also see Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg act as "a designated compliance officer"

In a statement, the Facebook said: "We estimate that the range of loss in this matter is $3 billion to $5 billion. The matter remains unresolved, and there can be no assurance as to the timing or the terms of any final outcome."

The FTC launched the investigation last March, following claims that Facebook allowed organisations, such as political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, to collect data from millions of users without their consent.

In particular, the watchdog is investigating whether Facebook violated a 2011 privacy agreement. At the time, Facebook promised that it would ask users for permission before sharing their data more widely than defined by their privacy settings.

However, despite its latest run-in with the FTC, as Computing reported last week, Facebook has remained positive, shrugging off claims that its well-publicised privacy problems would see users desert the platform.

The company claimed that while it had experienced a 51 per cent year-on-year decline as a result of the expected legal expense, earnings per share would have surpassed analyst expectations.

Despite the privacy concerns, Facebook claimed that its monthly user count grew by eight per cent to 2.3 billion. Zuckerberg said: "We had a good quarter and our business and community continue to grow.

"We are focused on building out our privacy-focused vision for the future of social networking, and working collaboratively to address important issues around the internet."

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