Court Rules Meta Cannot Prevent US FTC From Reopening Privacy Probe

(CTN News) – Meta Platforms (META.O) will not be able to prevent the United States Federal Trade Commission from reopening an investigation into alleged privacy violations by its Facebook unit while it pursues a lawsuit challenging the authority of the FTC, a U.S. court has ruled.

Washington, D.C. – Located in Washington, D.C., the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Appellate Circuit found that had not demonstrated that it had an adequate chance of succeeding in its challenge. There is no evidence has met its heavy burden of showing entitlement to an injunction pending the outcome of its appeal, the court said.

A panel of the same appeals court, on March 12th, denied  separate request to pause the FTC’s investigation, which was announced last year, despite objections that it already paid a $5 billion fine and agreed upon a range of safeguards as part of the settlement of the matter.

According to the FTC, an existing Facebook privacy settlement from 2020 could be tightened so that it bans the profiting from minors’ data as well as expands the footprint of facial recognition technology. A federal agency has accused Meta of misleading parents about the protections that are available for their children.

A Massachusetts-based company called Meta, which has denied misleading parents about privacy risks, filed a lawsuit against the FTC in November, challenging the agency’s ability to act as both an investigative body and a decision-making body at the same time.

As part of its statement, Meta also stated that allowing the FTC action to go forward would violate right to a trial by jury, among other things.

There was no immediate comment from the FTC or Meta.

The D.C. Circuit’s order on Friday addressed Meta’s appeal of an order issued on March 15 by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington denying request to halt the investigation by the agency.

According to Moss, Meta had not been able to overcome the “strong” public interest of the FTC in scrutinizing privacy controls as a result of its decision.

Moreover, the Federal Trade Commission has separately accused of abusing its power in the social media market to crush or buy rivals through a lawsuit filed in Washington against that company.

According to Meta, the company has denied the agency’s claims, which could force the company to sell its Instagram photo-sharing platform and its WhatsApp messaging service.

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