Senator Markey Urges FTC to Require Additional Privacy Safeguards at Facebook

Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission commissioners expressing concern that Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree with the Commission. In his letter, Senator Markey urges the FTC to implement a series of new privacy safeguards that Facebook should implement, including requiring Facebook to cease all tracking of users across websites after users have logged out of their Facebook accounts, requiring Facebook to suspend deployment of facial recognition tools pending completion of the FTC investigation, as well as a number of other steps to ensure compliance with the consent decree. Additionally, Senator Markey asks the FTC if Facebook has provided the Commission with all audits required by the consent decree, what steps the Commission is taking to ensure compliance, and when the investigation will be made public.

The new Facebook privacy safeguards Senator Markey urges the FTC to require include:

• Creating and managing a mechanism that allows the public to review any substantial changes to Facebook’s privacy practices that are subject to the 2011 consent order
• Requiring Facebook to cease all tracking of users across websites after users have logged out of their Facebook accounts
• Prohibiting Facebook from repealing or weakening its current policy prohibiting applications from collecting users' data based on their “friends’” permission
• Requiring Facebook to release publicly and automatically transmit to the FTC any consumer complaints or records that contradict, qualify, or call into question Facebook’s compliance with the consent decree