You Make a Difference! Our mission and operations are funded entirely by Patriots like you! Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign now.

July 17, 2019

Facebook Fined $5B for Privacy Violations

Social-media giant is hit with the largest fine in tech history, and yet it’s still peanuts.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that it had concluded its investigation into Facebook and issued a fine of $5 billion for privacy violations and mishandling of user data. The massive fine dwarfs the $22 million fine the FTC levied against Google back in 2012. Still, considering Facebook’s revenue of $56 billion last year and expected $69 billion this year, the fine is easily absorbable for the social-media giant.

Given that the company could essentially write off the fine as a business expense, many see it as little more than a slap on the wrist and question whether it will lead to actual change on Facebook’s part. Nuala O'Connor, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, lamented, “Privacy regulation in the U.S. is broken.” She then noted, “While large after-the-fact fines matter, what is much more important is strong, clear rules to protect consumers.”

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal that prompted the FTC investigation, Facebook has also “acknowledged giving big tech companies like Amazon and Yahoo extensive access to users’ personal data, in effect exempting them from its usual privacy rules,” the Associated Press reported. “And it collected call and text logs from phones running Google’s Android system in 2015.” The case now moves to the Justice Department for review, but suffice it to say when users are the product, it’s unlikely Facebook will truly behave any different in the future.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.