Facebook to pay $100 million to settle with SEC over misuse of user data

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc <FB.O> agreed to pay a $100 million fine to settle charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it misled investors for more than two years about the misuse of its users’ data, the regulator said on Wednesday.

The SEC said Facebook knew by Dec. 2015 that a researcher had improperly sold information related to tens of millions of users to data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, but did not disclose the breach until March 2018, causing its stock to drop.

Facebook did not admit or deny wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)