Facebook to face massive $5 billion penalty over data privacy lapses, 'not sufficient to change its behaviour,' says expert 

United States regulators have approved a USD 5 billion penalty to be levied on Facebook to settle a probe into social network's privacy and data protection lapses, as per a news report on Friday.

report said Federal Tre Commission (FTC) approved settlement in a 3-2 vote, with two Democratic members of consumer protection ncy dissenting. As per a report,  deal which is supposed to be biggest imposed penalty so far by FTC for privacy violations still needs approval from Justice Department before it is finalized.

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Although details have been given out yet, deal will likely include restrictions on how Facebook is able to use personal data. Charlotte Slaiman of consumer group Public Kwledge and group's Competition Policy Counsel thinks it is unlikely restrictions will be overly harsh:

"We don't yet kw key aspects of settlement: wher Facebook must make any changes to its business model or practices as a result," 

"By itself, this fine will t be sufficient to change Facebook's behaviour," she ded

outlook was more optimistic at Center for Democracy and Techlogy, whose president Nuala O'Conr said fine underscored importance of "data stewardship" in digital .

" FTC has put all companies on tice that y must safeguard personal information," O'Conr said.

Facebook did t immediately respond to a press query on agreement. FTC anunced last year it reopened its investigation into a 2011 privacy settlement with Facebook after revelations that personal data on tens of millions of users was hijacked by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which was working on Donald Trump campaign in 2016.

Facebook has also faced questions about wher it improperly shared user data with business partners in violation of earlier settlement. leing social network with more than two billion users worldwide has also been facing inquiries on privacy from authorities in US states and regulators around world.

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settlement would be in line with Facebook's estimate earlier this year when it said it expected to pay USD 3 billion to USD 5 billion for legal settlements on "user data practices." fine is unlikely to hurt Facebook, which logged a profit of USD 2.4 billion on revenue that climbed 26 per cent to USD 15.1 billion in first three months of this year. Facebook's stock value increased by 1.8 per cent after fine was anunced, closing at nearly USD 205, highest it has been all year.

Some Facebook critics have argued company should face tougher sanctions including monitoring of its data practices, or that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg should be personally liable for penalties. Faced with criticism, Facebook's he of global affairs, Nick Clegg, called on governments to do more to regulate social networks, inste of leaving work to companies.

"It's t for private companies, however big or small, to come up with those rules. It is for democratic politicians in democratic world to do so," Clegg said in a June 24 press interview.

But re are increasing calls to dismantle massive social network. In May, one of Facebook's co-founders called for social media behemoth to be broken up, warning that Zuckerberg h become far too powerful.

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"It's time to break up Facebook," said Chris Hughes in a newspaper editorial, saying it h become necessary to separate social network from Facebook's Instagram and WhatsApp services. Zuckerberg's "focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for s," said Hughes.