EPIC to Congress: 29,000 Facebook Complaints Pending at FTC

September 25, 2019

In advance of an FTC oversight hearing, EPIC told the House Appropriations Committee that more than 29,000 complaints against Facebook are now pending at the Federal Trade Commission. EPIC obtained documents last week revealing 3,000 new complaints against Facebook since the Commission proposed the $5 b settlement with Facebook two months ago. EPIC's Freedom of Information Act Request had previously found 26,000 complaints pending against the social media giant. "The FTC is simply ignoring thousands of consumer privacy complaints about Facebook's ongoing business practices," EPIC said to the Committee. EPIC is formally challenging the proposed settlement with Facebook, charging that the Commission has failed to investigate thousands of complaints against the company. EPIC urged the Committee to support the creation of a U.S. Data Protection Agency, saying "The Federal Trade Commission may help consumers with broken toasters, but the FTC is not an effective data protection agency."

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