US regulators approved a roughly 4 billion settlement with Facebook Inc this week over its investigation into the social media company’s handling of user data, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.
The FTC has been investigating allegations that Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The investigation has focussed on whether the sharing of data and other disputes violated a 2011 consent agreement between Facebook and the regulator.
Facebook and the FTC told the Report Focus they had no comment on the reports.
The settlement still needs to be finalised by the US justice department’s civil division and a final announcement could come as early as next week, the source said.
he fine would be the largest the FTC has levied on a technology company.
Facebook’s revenue for last year hit nearly $56 billion.
