Facebook and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are negotiating a possible settlement that would require Facebook to create new positions at the company focused on strengthening its privacy practices, Politico reports, citing an anonymous source. As part of the settlement Facebook would create a privacy committee to protect its users’ data, and also have an external assessor appointed by the company and the FTC. Zuckerberg would take on the role of "designated compliance officer" responsible for carrying out the company's privacy policies, making him personally accountable for Facebook's handling of the issue, the report says. The FTC began investigating Facebook in early 2018 after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, harvested and used the personal data of around 87 million of Facebook users, including 562,455 Indian users, without their consent ahead of the 2016 US Presidential election. Last week The Verge reported that Facebook had set aside $3 billion for a fine it expects to have to pay the FTC as part of the settlement. The latest development coincides with Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference, which CEO and chairman Mark Zuckerberg used to outline the company’s new “privacy-focused vision”. He said people need public and private spaces in the digital world, and that the company has worked on building Facebook and Instagram into the digital equivalents of the town square, and WhatsApp and Messenger into the ‘living room’. Facebook's data leaks continue Facebook has been beset by privacy scandals since the Cambridge Analytica story broke. In April cybersecurity…
