Facebook to tighten privacy controls, settles case with FTC

Facebook, the world's No.1 Internet social networking firm, has admitted to making a "bunch of mistakes" over privacy issues and vowed to better protect the data of its 800 million users after being pulled up by the US' top consumer protection agency.

"Facebook has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public," the FTC said in a statement.

The case began in 2009, when Facebook changed settings to make public details which its users may have deemed private.

"Facebook is obligated to keep the promises about privacy that it makes to its hundreds of millions of users," Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the FTC, said in a statement.

"Facebook's innovation does not have to come at the expense of consumer privacy. The FTC action will ensure it will not," Leibowitz said yesterday.

Reacting to the settlement with the FTC, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in a blogpost said the company had made a "bunch of mistakes".

"I'm the first to admit that we've made a bunch of mistakes," Zuckerberg wrote.

He said a few "high-profile" mistakes, such as changes to the service's privacy policy two years ago, "have often overshadowed much of the good work we've done."

Facebook had addressed many of the FTC's concerns already, he said.