Facebook agrees to pay $5 billion to resolve privacy violation claims

The deal is also unlikely to mollify critics in Congress and among privacy advocates who have called for accountability for Zuckerberg

Facebook Inc. agreed to pay a record $5 billion to resolve a US investigation into years of privacy violations, a settlement that increases the board of directors’ responsibility for protecting users’ data while changing little about the company’s lucrative advertising business.

The agreement, announced Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission, will for the first time end Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s final authority over privacy decisions, creating an independent privacy committee of directors on the company’s board, according to an FTC statement.

The accord will also require Facebook to keep a tighter leash on third-party apps, perform regular sweeps for unencrypted passwords