US mulls slapping fine on Facebook

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US mulls slapping fine on Facebook
It is unclear if Facebook would settle by accepting a significant financial penalty.

San Francisco - Penalty expected to be bigger than $22.5M handed to Google in 2012

By Reuters, IANS

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Published: Sat 19 Jan 2019, 7:34 PM

Last updated: Sat 19 Jan 2019, 9:36 PM

US regulators have met to discuss imposing a fine against Facebook for violating a legally binding agreement with the government to protect the privacy of personal data, the Washington Post reported, citing three people familiar with the discussions. 
The Federal Trade Commission has been probing Facebook since last year. It has not finalised its findings in the Facebook investigation or the total amount of the penalty, according to the newspaper. 
Facebook has talked with FTC staff about the investigation, one of the people familiar with the probe told the Post
However, it is unclear if the company would settle with the FTC by accepting a significant financial penalty, which is expected to be much larger than the $22.5 million fine the agency imposed on Google in 2012, the report said. Facebook declined to comment. 
Messenger redesign 
Meanwhile, Facebook has redesigned its Messenger app with a new interface and the update can be downloaded on both Android and iOS devices. 
The redesign was first announced at Facebook's F8 developer conference in May 2018 with the idea of making the chat feature simpler and to put messages at the front and centre once again. 
Notable features of the redesign include consolidating its nine tabs into just three, introducing more whitespace to the interface and hidden buttons for game, bots and reminder functionalities on the chatbox, The Verge reported on Friday. 
Following its announcement in May, the redesign entered a prolonged rollout period in October. 
"The company says it might take a little time for the update to be available for everyone," the report added.
 


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