Facebook keeps aside $3 bn ahead of US FTC fine

San Francisco: Battling several privacy violations, Facebook has kept aside $3 billion, anticipating a record fine coming from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) related to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal that involved 87 million users.

“In the first quarter of 2019, we reasonably estimated a probable loss and recorded an accrual of $3 billion in connection with the inquiry of the FTC into our platform and user data practices,” the social networking giant wrote in its earnings statement late Wednesday.

“We estimate that the range of loss in this matter is $3 billion to $5 billion,” added Facebook.