In a bold move that could challenge the constitutional authority of the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. META filed a lawsuit Thursday asking an appeals court to stop the FTC from re-opening a consent agreement that would stop the social media giant from collecting revenue on data from people under the age of 18. The dispute dates back to May, when the FTC proposed tightening a 2019 consent agreement that bars Meta from making money off young users, as well as expands restrictions on facial recognition technology. Under the 2019 agreement, then-Facebook was required to pay $5 billion for violating an earlier agreement. “The FTC’s unilateral attempt to rewrite our privacy settlement agreement raises serious and important issues about the FTC’s constitutional authority and Meta’s Due Process rights. Monday’s ruling did not reach those issues and the Judge suggested that Meta raise them in a separate suit. The FTC shouldn’t be the prosecutor, judge, and jury in the same case,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to MarketWatch. Meanwhile, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., blasted the lawsuit. “Meta’s baseless lawsuit is a weak attempt to avoid accountability for its repeated failures to protect kids’ privacy online,” Markey said in a statement.
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