Confirmed: Facebook hit with $5bn FTC fine - but is now facing a new FTC investigation

In addition to the $5bn fine and changes to its corporate structure, Facebook is also facing two US antitrust investigations

Facebook's $5 billion fine from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), levied after it egregiously violated the terms of a 2012 order from the FTC, has been confirmed.

However, the company is now facing an antitrust probe, also led by the FTC, which the company said began in June. This will come on top of another antitrust investigation, announced this week, which will be led by the Department of Justice.

And on top of that, the FTC also revealed that separate law enforcement action was being taken against data analytics company Cambridge Analytica, its former CEO Alexander Nix, and Aleksandr Kogan, an app developer who worked with the company. The FTC alleges that they used false and deceptive tactics to harvest personal information from millions of Facebook users.

Under the terms of the FTC agreement announced on Wednesday, Facebook has also agreed to submit to new restrictions and to modify its corporate structure that, the FTC claimed, will "hold the company accountable for the decisions it makes about is users' privacy".

These restrictions are part of a new 20 year settlement intended to overhaul the way the company makes and enforces privacy decisions.

"The settlement order announced today also imposes unprecedented new restrictions on Facebook's business operations and creates multiple channels of compliance," the FTC stated in its announcement.

It continued: "The order requires Facebook to restructure its approach to privacy from the corporate board-level down, and establishes strong new mechanisms to ensure that Facebook executives are accountable for the decisions they make about privacy, and that those decisions are subject to meaningful oversight."

While a number of dissenting voices have suggested that the $5 billion fine is insufficient for a company of the size and profitability of Facebook, the FTC claimed that it is more than 18 times larger than the next biggest-ever fine levied over privacy violations - anywhere in the world.

"The magnitude of the $5 billion penalty and sweeping conduct relief are unprecedented in the history of the FTC," said FTC chairman Joe Simons.

He continued: "The relief is designed not only to punish future violations but, more importantly, to change Facebook's entire privacy culture to decrease the likelihood of continued violations. The Commission takes consumer privacy seriously, and will enforce FTC orders to the fullest extent of the law."

Despite coming under repeated attacks over its lackadaisical attitude to its users' privacy, Facebook nevertheless this week filed a strong set of second-quarter revenues up 28 per cent to $16.9 billion, with a net income of $2.6 billion - a sum that reflects a $2 billion charge taken to take account of its $5 billion fine from the FTC for violating the terms of the 2012 agreement.