Facebook fined $7 billion after privacy probe, new antitrust inquiry opens

Facebook will pay a record $US5 billion ($A7.2 billion) fine to resolve a government probe into its privacy practices and will boost safeguards on user data, the US Federal Trade Commission and the social media company say.

Democrats to consider breaking up Facebook: Biden

US presidential hopeful Joe Biden says he would be open to breaking up Facebook, a sign of the deep skepticism among many Democratic contenders about the power of massive technology firms.