David C. Vladeck formerly served as the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection for nearly 4 years. He worked on several hundred enforcement cases during his tenure. One was the FTC’s investigation of Facebook , which ultimately led to a  consent order.

In a recent post on the Harvard Law Review Blog , Vladeck describes how he thought of the companies he investigated as either “clueless” or “venal”. According to Vladeck, “[c]lueless companies acknowledge that problematic conduct took place, but claim that they were unaware of it, and for that reason they shouldn’t be punished—or, at most, should get a slap on the wrist.” In contrast,  “[v]enal companies deny all wrongdoing, no matter how egregious the violation, incontrovertible evidence against them, or the toll exacted on consumers.” Which is worse? He wasn’t sure.

Vladeck initially thought Facebook was simply “clueless” . But after its role in the recent Cambridge Analytica fiasco, he’s not so sure. The reason? According to Vladeck, the social media company   “is now a serial offender”  and can no longer claim to be “clueless”. He notes that Facebook is rightly being criticized for its refusal to candidly disclose how it shares user data with app developers and third parties.

Vladeck’s post describes a few of the many controversies involving Facebook’s privacy practices. The FTC’s press release  also lists the numerous broken privacy promises that led to its investigation of the company. These controversies always end the same way: with Mark Zuckerberg apologizing to Facebook users. In fairness, Zuckerberg is hardly alone here. He’s just echoing Silicon Valley’s mantra that it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Vladeck’s post is interesting because it comes from the perspective of a lawyer (and current law professor) who was directly involved in the FTC’s investigation of Facebook. It’s notable because he’s no longer willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt. He’s not alone. Trust is supposed to be earned. Facebook has broken too many privacy promises followed by too many meaningless apologies to deserve anyone’s trust.

The post Former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection: Facebook is a Serial Offender appeared first on Law Office of Robert Scarino.