How the FTC let Mark Zuckerberg off the hook

Facebook’s FTC headache will soon be over and it looks like Mark Zuckerberg will emerge unscathed.

The Federal Trade Commission will formally announce its record-setting $5 billion fine against Facebook this week, according The Wall Street Journal.

The fine, the result of the FTC’s long-running investigation into the social network’s privacy practices following Cambridge Analytica, will be the largest the agency has ever brought against a tech company. Still, many critics have already said the fine does not go far enough to punish Facebook, which took in more than $15 billion last quarter alone. (Facebook’s stock actually rose following news of the fine earlier this month.) 

But no one is getting off easier than Facebook’s CEO, who will successfully avoid any personal accountability for his company’s missteps. A new report in the Washington Post details how Zuckerberg managed to avoid being personally singled out by the FTC, despite some of the commission members’ efforts to do so.

According to the report, at least two FTC members wanted to put Zuckerberg under order, meaning the CEO could personally face fines if Facebook made future mistakes. That would not only ramp up the pressure on Zuckerberg, but it would have been a huge embarrassment for the notoriously image-conscious CEO. Which is likely why Facebook’s lawyers fiercely fought any settlement that would even call out specific statements made my Zuckerberg, much less a direct order.

From the Washington Post’s description of how the negotiations went down:

Facebook’s team of lawyers, overseen by Colin Stretch, the company’s general counsel, steadfastly opposed placing Zuckerberg under order, including during meetings with commission negotiators starting last year. The tech giant’s internal briefing materials reflected its willingness to cease settlement talks and send the matter to court, if necessary, to protect their executive from one of the most severe penalties the FTC could levy on him directly. Commission staff at one point sought to include in their order a section that pointed out all the times that Zuckerberg had spoken or posted publicly about Facebook’s privacy commitments. Facebook vigorously battled against that, too.

Both the FTC and Facebook were apparently eager to avoid a drawn out legal battle, which would be inevitable if the two sides didn’t agree to a settlement. As the report points out, Facebook has significantly more resources at its disposal than the government agency, and a federal judge could have watered down terms of the agreement even more.

Still, for anyone hoping the FTC settlement would finally hold Zuckerberg to account for the company’s numerous privacy violations, this will be a huge disappointment. Though Facebook will ultimately have to submit to some increased oversight, Zuckerberg just proved he is as untouchable as ever.