In a late-night lawsuit, Meta claimed that US regulators should be stopped for abusing their power and should not be allowed to alter the conditions of a 2020 privacy accord.
The $5 billion settlement was announced by the Silicon Valley tech company, then known as Facebook. It claimed that the Federal Trade Commission’s actions against Meta were illegal because of structural violations in the US Constitution.
Meta contended in a filing to a federal court in the US capital that the situation amounted to it being “subjected to an illegitimate proceeding led by an illegitimate decision maker.”
The business contended in its filing that the FTC’s internal measures undermine the authority of the courts and turn it into both a prosecutor and a judge, depriving Meta of legal due process.
The agency accused Facebook of breaching the conditions of its 2020 privacy directive and suggested revisions to it in May.
“Facebook has repeatedly violated its privacy promises,” FTC’s bureau of consumer protection director Samuel Levine said in a release at the time.
“Facebook needs to answer for its failures.”
Facebook was mandated by the 2020 privacy order to increase children’s privacy protections, pay a $5 billion civil penalty, and have an impartial third party evaluate the company’s performance.
According to the FTC, one of the proposed modifications to the settlement would forbid Meta from making money off of the information it obtains from users who are less than 18 years old, even through virtual reality devices.
A further modification that has been suggested would prevent Meta from introducing new goods or services until an assessor has certified in writing that its privacy program complies fully with regulations.
Meta implored the court to prevent the FTC from moving forward with the modifications.
“Meta respectfully requests that this court declare that certain fundamental aspects of the commission’s structure violate the US Constitution,” the tech firm said in the filing.
The FTC is seeking to impose broad restrictions on how companies such as Meta use their intellectual property, the lawsuit contended.
