A US appeals court has ruled Meta cannot stop the US Federal Trade Commission from reopening an investigation into its Facebook unit's privacy practices for now, despite Meta's argument that it has already paid a $5 billion fine and agreed to a range of safeguards.
The FTC has accused Meta of misleading parents about protections for their children and wants to tighten an existing 2020 Facebook privacy settlement to ban profiting from minors' data and expand restrictions on facial recognition technology.
The decision, from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, was a major blow for Meta, which had initially asked the court to freeze the FTC case as it pursues separate lawsuits challenging the FTC's probe on constitutional grounds, reported Reuters.
The appeals court said the FTC's stated privacy concerns "implicate important public interests" and that Meta would have an opportunity to contest any final action by the agency.
In a statement of their own, Meta said the court's order "does not address the substance of the FTC's allegations, which are without merit."
Meta also counters that the FTC cannot "unilaterally rewrite" the prior settlement terms, which a US judge approved in 2020.
Additionally, the company claimed that the proposed changes under the FTC would "curtail Meta's development of new products, superintend Meta's corporate governance, and impair Meta's ability to serve its users and advertisers."
Meta, among other social media companies, are individually fighting hundreds of US lawsuits accusing them of addicting children to their platforms.
While Meta has denied these allegations, the FTC is suing the company for monopolizing the personal social network market.
Elsewhere in the world of social media, a bill was passed in the House on Wednesday that concerns a ban on the popular video app TikTok in the United States over concerns the company's ownership structure is a threat to national security.
The legislation mandates ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, to divest the popular short video platform to an American entity, or else risk being banned in the US, where it currently has 170 million active users.
China's Foreign Ministry has said the TikTok ban is "an act of bullying" that would ultimately backfire on the US.
US officials and lawmakers have continuously voiced concerns about TikTok and the idea that the Chinese government could compel its parent company, ByteDance, to hand over data collected from US users, or even be used as a propaganda tool for Beijing to spread misinformation or influence the American public.
The bill having passed the House is only the first step as the Senate now needs to pass the measure as well. Assuming the bill passes the Senate, it will reahc the desk of President Bidne to be signed into law, which he has repeatedly said he will do.
