Groups urge FTC to break up Facebook over Cambridge Analytica scandal

Advocacy groups urged the Federal Trade Commission to order a breakup of Facebook after the agency concludes its investigation into the company’s handling of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The groups, led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, wrote in a letter to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons that modest enforcement actions would not be adequate to curb Facebook’s privacy practices. They urged the FTC to require Facebook to divest from subsidiaries like WhatsApp and Instagram and to impose a fine of at least $2 billion on the social media giant. The agency is probing whether Facebook violated a consent agreement the two sides reached in 2011 that required the company not to misrepresent its privacy practices. Among those signing onto the letter were the Open Markets Institute, the civil rights group Color of Change and Common Sense Media.