company

Facebook

Social networking service and flagship product of Meta Platforms. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes at Harvard University in February 2004, originally as 'TheFacebook'. Became Facebook, Inc. in 2005. As the world's largest social network, Facebook has over 3 billion monthly active users as of 2024. The platform enables users to share content, connect with friends and family, join groups, and access marketplace features. Despite being part of Meta's portfolio, Facebook remains the company's primary revenue generator through advertising.

Related Entities

Subsidiary of Meta Platforms since Feb 4, 2004

Track Record

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Cambridge Analytica harvested 87 million Facebook users' data without consent for political targeting

Mar 17, 2018

negligent $5.0B

Data scientist Aleksandr Kogan's app 'This Is Your Digital Life' collected data from 87 million Facebook users (70.6M in US) without explicit consent in 2013-2014. Data sold to Cambridge Analytica and used for psychographic profiling in 2016 Trump and Cruz presidential campaigns. Facebook learned of misuse in 2015 but only asked for deletion without verification. Whistleblower Christopher Wylie exposed scandal in March 2018. Resulted in $5B FTC fine (largest ever privacy penalty), $100M SEC fine, Mark Zuckerberg Congressional testimony. Evidence showed targeted voter suppression of Black voters. Facebook misled investors about risks for 2+ years despite knowing about breach.

- Democratic Institutions - User Privacy - Whistleblower Protection