The shutdown is about to force the FTC to suspend its Facebook investigation, former officials say

Source: Washington Post

The shutdown is about to force the FTC to suspend its Facebook investigation, former officials say

By Brian Fung
December 28 at 10:40 AM

A long-awaited federal probe into Facebook will be hamstrung when the agency conducting the investigation runs out of funding on Friday, according to former government officials.

The investigation into Facebook’s conduct — and whether its handling of user data violated a 2011 consent order with the Federal Trade Commission — has stretched on for months. But now the government shutdown threatens to prolong the FTC’s investigation, even as Facebook’s mounting scandals have prompted calls for a swift and decisive response from the agency.

Although the FTC’s budget allowed it to continue working through midday Friday, the impending lapse in funding will require it to suspend virtually all of its investigations and litigation. That would include the Facebook probe, according to David Vladeck, a former director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau.

Preparations for the shutdown probably have already affected the probe, he said. “The key part of any investigation is the information-gathering stage, which is revealing documents and talking to people,” he said. “It just stops. And it has to stop in an organized way.”

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/28/shutdown-is-about-force-ftc-suspend-its-facebook-investigation-former-officials-say/