SAN FRANCISCO — Government regulators are sharing some alarming information about Facebook: They believe the online social network has often misled its more than 800 million users about the sanctity of their personal information.
The unflattering portrait of Facebook’s privacy practices emerged Tuesday in a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging that Facebook exposed details about users’ lives without getting legally required consent. In some cases, the FTC charged, Facebook allowed potentially sensitive details to be passed along to advertisers and software developers prowling for customers.
To avoid further legal wrangling, Facebook agreed to submit to government audits of its privacy practices every other year for the next two decades. The company committed to getting explicit approval from its users — a process known as “opting in” — before changing their privacy controls.
The FTC’s truce with Facebook, along with previous settlements with Google and Twitter, is helping to establish more ground rules for online privacy expectations even as Internet companies regularly vacuum up insights about their audiences in an effort to sell more advertising.
The agreement comes as Facebook is preparing to sell its stock next year in an initial public offering expected to be the biggest Internet IPO ever.
The company’s revenue this year is expected to approach $4.3 billion, according to research firm eMarketer, up from $777 million in 2009.
Although Facebook didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing in the legal papers it signed with the FTC, Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was contrite in a blog post.
Facebook makes money by mining the personal information it collects to help customize ads and aim the messages at people most likely to buy the products and services being promoted. Revenue this year is expected to approach $4.3 billion, according to research firm eMarketer, up from $777 million in 2009.
