The Federal Trade Commission’s $5bn fine for Facebook — assuming it is approved by the Department of Justice — is both eye-catching and sets a new record. The 2 per cent rise in Facebook shares after it was reported shows how little impact the market believes it will have on the company’s finances or business model. Facebook and its rivals should nevertheless view the case as a warning shot. Beyond the FTC, the debate has shifted from fines to increasingly severe measures to keep Big Tech in check. As regulators adapt to this reality, future settlements will only become tougher.
美国联邦贸易委员会(FTC)对Facebook开出的50亿美元罚单（假设它获得美国司法部(DoJ)批准）既引人注目，又创下了新的纪录。消息发布后，Facebook股价上涨2%，表明市场认为它对该公司的财务状况或商业模式的影响多么小。尽管如此，Facebook及其竞争对手们仍应将此案视为一记警钟。在联邦贸易委员会之外，争论已经从罚款转向采取愈加严厉的措施来约束大型科技公司。随着监管机构顺应这一现实，未来达成的和解条件只会更加严酷。
The fine follows an investigation which began last March, triggered by the Cambridge Analytica case in which personal information was leaked to a political consultancy through a third party. The FTC found Facebook to be in breach of a previous settlement, reached after the company was discovered to be deceiving customers around their privacy practices.
此次罚款源于去年3月开始的一项针对Facebook个人数据通过第三方被泄漏给政治咨询公司剑桥分析(Cambridge Analytica)的调查。联邦贸易委员会认定Facebook违反了此前达成的一项和解协议，这项协议是在该公司被发现在隐私保护方面欺骗用户之后达成的。