US finalises Facebook privacy settlement

The US Federal Trade Commission has voted to finalise its settlement with Facebook, resolving charges the social network exposed details about users' lives without getting the required legal consent.

Facebook Inc agreed on Friday to submit to US government audits of its privacy practices every other year for the next two decades.

The company also committed to getting explicit approval from users before changing the types of content it makes public.

The settlement, announced in November, is similar to agreements the FTC reached separately with Google Inc. and Myspace.

The FTC approved the settlement on Friday after a public comment period. It came a day after the FTC fined Google $US22.5 million ($A21.4 million) to resolve allegations Google didn't comply with the earlier settlement.

Facebook didn't admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, though CEO Mark Zuckerberg conceded in November that the company had made "high-profile mistakes" on privacy over the years.

Both Facebook and Google have vast amounts of data on their users - Facebook through the things people share on the site, and Google through the searches and other things people do.

Such information is valuable because it can be used to improve the lucrative targeted advertising pitches that both companies aim at users.

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