Facebook is negotiating a record fine with the US Federal Trade Commission over violations of user's privacy, it has been reported.

The fine could reach billions of dollars, according to The Washington Post, with the newspaper adding the exact amount is yet to be settled.

Facebook recently posted strong financial numbers for the fourth quarter of 2018, with its profits climbing to $6.9bn (£5.3bn) - an all-time record.

This is despite the social media giant having been plagued by a series of scandals throughout the year.

Primarily, the FTC fine would regard the Cambridge Analytica scandal - in which Facebook gave 87 million users' data to an elections consultancy.


The regulator has been investigating the case.

In 2011, the FTC made an agreement with Facebook regarding the social media giant's obligation to safeguard users' privacy.

In a statement to Sky News, a company spokesperson declined to comment specifically on the Washington Post report, but they said: "We are cooperating with officials in the US, UK, and beyond.

"We've provided public testimony, answered questions, and pledged to continue our assistance as their work continues."

Financial expert wins fight against Facebook over scam adverts

In September last year, Facebook said 50 million users were affected by a security breach, which potentially enabled hackers to take over people's accounts.

Earlier this month, Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, dropped his lawsuit against the platform for running scam advertisements featuring his name and image.

The platform also removed 364 pages and accounts linked to employees of Russian news agency Sputnik from its platform this month, as part of investigations into networks of Facebook accounts created to "mislead others".

It also emerged that Facebook paid children as young as 13 to install software on their phones, which allowed the company to collect data on how they used its competitors' apps.