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Facebook profits and users rising, but company will set aside US$ 3bn for US FTC investigation into privacy practices

Thursday, April 25th 2019 - 08:59 UTC
Full article
“We had a good quarter and our business and community continued to grow,” founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said. “We had a good quarter and our business and community continued to grow,” founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said.
The social media giant also said total sales for the first three months of the year leapt 26% to US$ 15.08bn, narrowly beating market expectations The social media giant also said total sales for the first three months of the year leapt 26% to US$ 15.08bn, narrowly beating market expectations

Facebook has said it will set aside US$ 3bn to cover the potential costs of an investigation by US authorities into its privacy practices. While it has provided for a heavy toll from the investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission, the final cost could be US$ 5bn, it said.

The social media giant also said total sales for the first three months of the year leapt 26% to US$ 15.08bn, narrowly beating market expectations. Monthly users rose 8%, and that rise takes the number of users to 2.38 billion.

“We had a good quarter and our business and community continued to grow,” founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said.

“We are focused on building out our privacy-focused vision for the future of social networking, and working collaboratively to address important issues around the internet.”

The shares are up by nearly 40% in the year to date, far outperforming the broader market, and were up nearly 5% in late trading on Wall Street.

Facebook is facing a probe over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, however no findings have yet been published.

Facebook was labeled “morally bankrupt pathological liars” by New Zealand's privacy commissioner this month after hosting a live-stream of the Christchurch attacks that left 50 dead.

In an interview after the attacks, Mr Zuckerberg refused to commit to any changes to the platform's live technology, including a time delay on live-streams.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, last week admitted that millions more Instagram users were affected by a security lapse than it had previously disclosed. It had mistakenly stored the passwords of hundreds of millions of users without encryption.

Categories: Politics, United States.

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