Facebook shares tumble as us regulator announces privacy probe

Shares of Facebook Inc fell more than 5 percent on Monday after the U.S. consumer protection regulator made public its investigation of how the social network allowed data of 50 million

users to get into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Shares of Facebook Inc fell more than 5 percent on Monday after the U.S. consumer protection regulator made public

its investigation of how the social network allowed data of 50 million users to get into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Scrutiny by the U.S. Federal Trade

Commission, which generally confirms the existence of an investigation only in cases of significant public interest, adds to pressure by lawmakers in the United States and Europe for

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to explain how his company handles user data. Facebook shares briefly dipped below $150 on Monday for the first time since July 2017. The company has

now lost more than $100 billion in market value in the last 10 days when news reports first surfaced about Cambridge Analytica's use of Facebook user data in Donald Trump's 2016

presidential campaign. The company also faces rising discontent from advertisers and users. U.S. auto parts retailer Pep Boys on Monday suspended all advertising on Facebook, joining

internet company Mozilla Corp which made a similar move last week. Opinion polls published on Sunday in the United States and Germany cast doubt over the trust people have in Facebook as the

firm ran advertisements in British and U.S. newspapers apologising to users. Fewer than half of Americans trust Facebook to obey U.S. privacy laws, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll

released on Sunday, while a survey published by Bild am Sonntag, Germany's largest-selling Sunday paper, found 60 percent of Germans fear that Facebook and other social networks are

having a negative impact on democracy.