On December 17, 2009, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”), the American Library Association (“ALA”), The Center for Digital Democracy (“CDD”), the Consumer Federation of America (“CFA”), FoolProof Financial Education, Patient Privacy Rights, Privacy Activism, Privacy Rights Now Coalition, The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and the U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation (the “Petitioners”), filed a Complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) requesting an injunction and investigation.

The Complaint concerned the practices of Facebook.com, specifically the recent changes to the company’s privacy settings and privacy policy. As Petitioners stated in the original complaint: This complaint concerns material changes to privacy settings made by Facebook, the largest social network service in the United States, which adversely impact users of the Facebook service. Facebook’s changes to users’ privacy settings disclose personal information to the public that was previously restricted. Facebook’s changes to users’ privacy settings also disclose personal information to third parties that was previously not available. These changes violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook’s own representations.