Facebook’s $5B FTC fine saw stocks climb
Here’s the problem that fines cannot resolve: when tech giants become too big, and keep pushing boundaries to get more power, larger market share and grow their business, a fine simply becomes a price worth paying to break the rules.
A long list of bad behaviour from Facebook incurred a simply $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission. Even though this fine is far greater than the previous biggest fine of $22 million levied on Google in 2012, it is nothing more than a slap on the wrist given Facebook’s size—evidently since Facebook’s stocks climbed after the news of the fine broke.
Multiple members of Congress in the US are already opposing this settlement.
It is almost a joke that the biggest FTC fine in history actually increased Zuckerberg's net worth. With its multi-billion dollar profits and potential growth given Project Libra and other ventures, we believe that simply fining a company as big and powerful as Facebook is not a deterrent for it breaking rules and doing as it pleases.
Facebook and Zuckerberg’s actions are impacting SMEs and the entire economic system, which needs to be fixed via a more permanent and strong method.
