Facebook has told federal investigators it’s open to heightened oversight of its privacy practices

Apparently, Facebook has told the Federal Trade Commission it is willing to submit to greater oversight of its data-collection practices — from the launching of new services to the decisions of its top executives — in order to end a wide-ranging federal probe into a series of privacy abuses that came to light in 2018. The changes would accompany a record-breaking, multi-billion-dollar fine that the FTC has considered levying against Facebook. Under such a settlement, Facebook would have to complete a more rigorous privacy review of new products and services before launching them. The company would have to document its decisions, and its efforts to anticipate potential privacy pitfalls, which would help the FTC assess if the social-networking giant fully weighed the effects of its data-collection practices on users, the person said. Facebook also would take a more active role in policing third-party app developers, reviewing their offerings and ensuring that they comply with Facebook’s own rules.