Sen. Kennedy discusses the power of Facebook's influence
FTC slaps Facebook with a record $5 billion fine; reaction from Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy on 'The Story.'
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., says Congress is going to have to "weigh in" on Facebook, saying the company is the equivalent of its own country and has tremendous power.
"I mean Facebook is no longer a company, it's a country. 2 billion users. It can influence what we think, what we believe, how we vote, what we buy, even how we feel," Kennedy said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum" Wednesday.
Facebook disclosed Wednesday that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened an antitrust probe into the company.
The company was also hit this week with a $5 billion fine – the largest the FTC has ever levied on a tech company -- for privacy violations, as well as new oversight on how the company handles user data.
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"Their business model is we give up all of our personal information, very valuable, in return for us being able to see what our high school friends had for dinner on Saturday. Now, that I'm OK with, as long as people understand what they're giving up," Kennedy said.
Kennedy is proposing a bill with the intention of making Facebook more honest with its users.
"What I think we need to do is pass a bill that says number one, you own your data. Number two, you can license it to Facebook but the licensing has to be knowing, it has to be willful... They have to tell you what they're doing with it right now their terms and conditions are about eight pages single-spaced. Nobody reads it. You could have a dead body in there," Kennedy said.
"My bill would say look you've got to write it in plain English. If you change your mind you can opt-out. Your data is portable. You are entitled to see a copy of your data and if people are willing to do that, this is America, I say Fine but put the consent."
Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
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