It's not the amount. It's the ratio. They overpaid by over 47 times. A company f...

pjc50 · on Sept 23, 2021

Because the boss told them to?

Reubachi · on Sept 23, 2021

yes....that's what's crazy: why? Not sure the why folks are confused about folks being confused about this.

There must be some logical reason they would pay out close to 50x the demanded payout, but none of us for the life of us can imagine why beyond shielding personal liability. So, why is that possible?

Cederfjard · on Sept 23, 2021

It’s not only personal liability - surely Zuckerberg and Sandberg being deposed would be a liability for Facebook as well.

ClumsyPilot · on Sept 23, 2021

Or maybe it would be a long overdue cleanup

intended · on Sept 23, 2021

Perhaps precedent. The difference between Facebook as a firm being liable for everything that has happened or will happen, vs an individual being liable?

b112 · on Sept 23, 2021

The settlement happened after the 5B was paid. The 5B likely included a fine they were seeking, too.

ctvo · on Sept 23, 2021

The fine was 109M.

Not sure why you felt the need to clarify that the settlement happened after the 5B was paid when the 5B was conditional on Zuckerberg / Sandberg not being liable in the settlement.

The question is what did these people know / do that was worth 47x the fine to keep them safe.

b112 · on Sept 23, 2021

The point is, the 5B was a fine, accepting full penalty for whatever "wrong thing", over that part which was being investigated.

The 47x number is apples and oranges. They are two different fines / issues.

What Zuck knew isn't relevant, for, the fine was likely "if all the bad things we think you did, happened, then this is the fine".

So, in essence, he admitted to all the questions being asked.

Zuck / Facebook paid, rather then shine greater light on things. So yeah, bad stuff surely, but I see no direct connection to the other fine.

In fact, by relating it to the other fine, people are missing that it may have been an entirely other (very bad) matter.

The bit about personal liability, etc, etc is standard boilerplate stuff.