Facebook has reached a deal with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following complaints that it disregarded its users’ privacy.
It has agreed to put in place certain measures to better protect its 800 million members’ data.
The settlement will require Facebook to obtain its users’ consent for certain changes to privacy settings and subject the social networking company to 20 years of independent audits.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a blog posting said he admitted that the company had made a "bunch of mistakes".
The FTC in its complaint against the Facebook said that the company had repeatedly violated laws against deceptive and unfair practices. Facebook had also failed to warn users that it was changing its website in December 2009 following which certain information that users had designated as private would be made public, the FTC added.
