Facebook shares tumble as US regulator announces probe
Shares of Facebook Inc fell more than 5 per cent on Monday after the US consumer protection regulator made public its investigation of how the social network allowed data of 50 million users to get into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
Scrutiny by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which generally confirms the existence of an investigation only in cases of significant public interest, adds to pressure by lawmakers in the United States and Europe for Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to explain how his company handles user data.
On the other hand, the US Senate Judiciary Committee said it had invited the chief executives of Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc and Twitter Inc to testify at an April 10 hearing on data privacy.
Senator Charles Grassley, the committee’s chairman, said he invited Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “to testify at the hearing to discuss Facebook’s past and future policies regarding the protection and monitoring of consumer data.”
Facebook shares briefly dipped below $150 on Monday for the first time since July 2017. The company has now lost more than $100 billion in market value in the last 10 days, when news reports first surfaced about Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook user data in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The company also faces rising discontent from advertisers and users. US auto parts retailer Pep Boys on Monday suspended all advertising on Facebook, joining internet fir, Mozilla Corp.