Meta loses court bid seeking to stop FTC from reopening privacy order

A federal judge rejected Meta’s request to stop the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from reopening a 2020 privacy settlement with the social media giant over allegations that it flouted the terms of the agreement. 

Privacy advocates called the ruling a significant victory in a case that could have grave implications for the FTC’s authorities if Meta prevails. The FTC has been attempting to order a blanket prohibition on the platform’s youth data monetization practices, as well as limit its use of facial recognition technology.

The judge’s opinion is the latest development stemming from a November lawsuit filed by Meta, which is attempting to block the FTC from moving forward with new restrictions it proposed in May. 

Those restrictions built on a 2019 privacy order, taking effect in 2020, which the FTC says Meta has flouted by deceiving parents about their ability to control their children’s Messenger Kids’ app contacts and misrepresenting how much private user data it provides to app developers. Under the 2020 order, Meta agreed to significant new restrictions and paid a historic $5 billion fine.

Washington, D.C.-based federal Judge Randolph Moss tore into Meta’s arguments in his opinion, saying that the preliminary injunction the tech giant sought must qualify as a “drastic and extraordinary remedy” under case law.

“Here, however, the only thing that is extraordinary about Meta’s motion is that it asks the Court to treat a host of controlling Supreme Court precedents as ‘obsolete,’” the opinion said. Meta had attempted to argue that the FTC’s structure is unconstitutional, and therefore the agency should lose some authority.

Moss added that because Meta has “failed to demonstrate that it will face irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief or that it is likely to succeed on the merits of any of its claims, it is not entitled to the extraordinary remedy of preliminary injunctive relief.”

Meta has been fighting to postpone that response and has appealed Thursday’s decision.

“The ruling is a major blow to Meta's year-long effort to avoid a full accounting of its harmful data practices,” John Davisson, director of litigation at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said via email. 

He added that the court “picked apart Meta's far-fetched constitutional attacks and cleared the way for the FTC proceeding to move ahead soon… Today we're one step closer to ending Meta's continued misuse of minors' personal data.”

A Meta spokesperson said the ruling on its motion for preliminary injunction “does not address the substance of the FTC's allegations, which are without merit. Since 2019, we have invested more than $5.5 billion in a rigorous privacy program that has embedded privacy into our products from the start.”

Meta will continue to “vigorously fight the FTC’s baseless and unlawful action,” the spokesperson added.

The FTC declined to comment.

The judge did rule in Meta’s favor Thursday by refusing the FTC’s motion to dismiss the case, citing a pending Supreme Court case which seeks to weaken the authorities of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on similar grounds.

But the judge indicated that he doesn’t buy Meta’s arguments and is waiting for the Supreme Court decision only because it could offer a relevant opinion.

“Although each of the substantive arguments [that] Meta presses is squarely foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent, the Court recognizes that the Supreme Court is currently

considering a number of related issues,” the judge wrote.