The Government of Canada has fined Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)
Canada’s competition watchdog said it had fined Facebook $9 million ($6.5 million U.S.) after an investigation found the social network made "misleading claims" about personal information of Canadians on Facebook and its Messenger platform.
The decision follows an investigation into the social media company's privacy practices between 2012 and 2018. The Competition Bureau said they found Facebook falsely represented how much information users could control — including the personal information of users' friends who had installed certain third-party applications.
"Canadians expect and deserve truth from businesses in the digital economy, and claims about privacy are no exception," the Competition Bureau said in a news release. “The Competition Bureau will not hesitate to crack down on any business that makes false or misleading claims to Canadians about how they use personal data, whether they are multinational corporations like Facebook or smaller companies."
Facebook will also be required to pay an additional $500,000 to the Competition Bureau for the costs of the investigation.
"Although we do not agree with the conclusions, we are resolving this matter by entering into a consent agreement and not contesting the conclusions for the purposes of this agreement," Facebook said in a written statement concerning the fine.
Facebook has faced criticism from lawmakers and regulators over its privacy practices. It agreed to pay a record $5 billion U.S. fine last year to settle a similar U.S. Federal Trade Commission data privacy probe.
