Zuckerberg Knew of Problematic Privacy Practices

Facebook uncovered emails that seem to show Mark Zuckerberg was aware of potentially problematic privacy practices at the company, the Wall Street Journal reported, according to Bloomberg.

The social media giant discovered the emails in the process of responding to a federal privacy investigation, the Journal reported, raising concerns that it would be harmful to the company if they became public. The potential impact of the internal emails was part of the reason the company sought to reach a quick settlement of the investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, the Journal reported, citing one person familiar with the matter.

The FTC has been looking into whether Facebook violated the terms of its 2012 consent decree with the agency related to privacy issues, and the emails sent around that time suggest that Zuckerberg and other senior executives didn’t put compliance with the FTC order at the top of priorities, according to the Journal. The Journal said it couldn’t be determined exactly what emails the FTC has requested and how many of them relate to Zuckerberg. It’s also unclear whether any of the emails, described to the Journal, show evidence that the company violated the 2012 agreement.

“We have fully cooperated with the FTC’s investigation to date and provided tens of thousands of documents, emails and files,“ a Facebook representative said in a statement. “At no point did Mark or any other Facebook employee knowingly violate the company’s obligations under the FTC consent order nor do any emails exist that indicate they did.“