San Francisco, July 25 Despite paying a record $5 billion fine to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over privacy violations, Facebook posted strong results for the second quarter (Q2), earning $16.9 billion in revenue — up 28 per cent from a year ago.

The social networking platform reported $2.6 billion in profit, reflecting a one-time $2 billion legal expense related to the FTC settlement.
We had a strong quarter and our business and community continue to grow,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO.

“We are investing in building stronger privacy protections for everyone and on delivering new experiences for the people who use our services,” he added after the company reached the $5 billion settlement with the US FTC.

Facebook now has 2.41 billion monthly active users (MAUs), an increase of 8 per cent year-over-year.

Daily active users (DAUs) were 1.59 billion on average for June 2019 – also an increase of 8 per cent year-over-year.
“Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 94 per cent of advertising revenue for the second quarter of 2019 — up from approximately 91 per cent of advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2018,” said Facebook.

Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $3.78 billion for the second quarter.

“We estimate that more than 2.1 billion people now use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger (our aFamily’ of services) every day on average, and more than 2.7 billion people use at least one of our Family of services each month,” said the social networking platform.

Earlier, in a historic judgment, the US FTC on Wednesday slapped a massive $5 billion fine on Facebook over users’ privacy violations in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, along with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directing the social networking platform to pay $100 million penalty for making misleading disclosures regarding the risk of misuse of user data.
Apart from the record-breaking settlement, Facebook will also submit to new sweeping restrictions and a modified corporate structure that will hold the company accountable for the decisions it makes about its users’ privacy, the FTC said in a statement.

Facebook CEO mark Zuckerberg said he will make some major structural changes to how he build products and run th company.

“Just as we have an audit committee of our board to oversee our financial controls, we’ll set up a new privacy committee of our board that will oversee our privacy programme. We’ve also asked one of our most experienced product leaders to take on the role of Chief Privacy Officer for Products,” Zuckerberg said immediately after the settlement was made official.

In a separate order, the US SEC announced charges against Facebook for making misleading disclosures regarding the risk of misuse of user data.

–IANS

Islamabad, : After an offer of mediation on the Kashmir issue by US President Donald Trump, the Pakistani media is showering praise on Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan”s US visit is being dubbed as a diplomatic victory for the country.

Urdu daily ”Jang” published an editorial on Khan”s US visit on Wednesday with title ”Imran ka Trump card” (Imran”s Trump card). The newspaper has written that the private meeting between Trump and Khan, and interactions between delegations of both the nations have represented Pakistan”s intention in a way that could be dubbed as “success”.

However, the Kashmir matter was not mentioned in the joint statement issued after the meeting of both leaders.

Ignoring the fact, the newspaper wrote: “The most important thing that was heard across the world was on television… the offer of mediation by Trump between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue”.

“After being satisfied with Trump”s response that the Indian Prime Minister already had a word with Trump, Khan immediately accepted his (Trump”s) offer,” the editorial said.

The newspaper wrote in its editorial: “Displaying defiance, the Indian Foreign Ministry has refuted Trump”s statement. It is beyond imagination that the leader of a superpower could ever give a contradictory statement on Modi and Kashmir”.

It noted that the US has taken due note of the “disorder” in Kashmir.

Another newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt has written that while Trump”s comment suited Pakistan and that Imran”s US visit scored a diplomatic win, Pakistan “should not dilute its stand on Kashmir.”

The paper sought to caution the government that the US stance of improvement or deterioration in ties should be viewed from the point of view of that country”s national interests.

–IANS