Meta's Efforts To Stall FTC's Reopening Of Facebook Privacy Settlement Rejected By Court

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has been denied a request to postpone the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s or FTC’s re-evaluation of alleged privacy violations within its Facebook division.

What Happened: On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed Meta’s plea to delay the FTC’s review of its privacy terms. The court ruled that Meta had not met the “stringent requirements” for an injunction pending appeal for any of its five constitutional challenges, reported Bloomberg.

“None has a likelihood of success,” the court ruled.

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The decision marks another setback for Meta in a series of rulings this month regarding the FTC’s authority to reopen a 2020 privacy settlement. This settlement addressed allegations that Meta violated terms after being fined $5 billion in 2023. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss had previously rejected Meta’s request for a preliminary injunction on March 14.

The FTC’s proposed amendments to Meta’s settlement include a ban on exploiting minors’ data and an expansion of restrictions on facial recognition technology. Meta is accused of deceptive practices concerning parental assurances about child protection measures.

Why It Matters: This ruling comes in the wake of a series of privacy-related controversies surrounding Meta. Earlier in March, the Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant was accused of snooping on user traffic data from Snapchat, YouTube, and Amazon to gain a competitive edge.

Last year, Facebook Ireland, a subsidiary of Meta, was found guilty of a user privacy breach during 2010-2020 by a Dutch court. This was followed by another lawsuit in the EU, where Meta was penalized for a data privacy breach.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.