The company decided to set aside $3 billion to pay off potential expenses from the Federal Trade Commission's ongoing investigation into Facebook's handling of users' personal data. But the company warned the fine may reach up to $5 billion.
Facebook's privacy scandals have led the company to estimate it'll pay between $3 billion to $5 billion in fines as the US Federal Trade Commission probes the company for privacy violations.
The estimate was disclosed in Facebook's first quarter earnings
report on Wednesday. For now, the company has decided to set aside $3 billion to pay off potential expenses from the FTC's pending investigation into Facebook.
"We estimate that the range of loss in this matter is $3.0 billion to $5.0 billion. The matter remains unresolved, and there can be no assurance as to the timing or the terms of any final outcome," Facebook said in the report. During an earnings call, company executives also noted that the $3 to $5 billion cost was made at the "low end of the range."
The FTC declined to comment on the potential fine. Last March, the US regulator confirmed it was
investigating Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, which exposed the personal data of 87 million people to a political consultancy hired by Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Reportedly, the FTC is investigating whether Facebook violated a previous 2011 settlement the social network made with the US regulator over earlier privacy violations. Meanwhile, US lawmakers have been critical of the social networking company and its privacy practices. On Tuesday, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) sent a
letter to the FTC, urging the US regulator to hold Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally liable for repeatedly mishandling users' personal data.
