Ethical Theory Case Study: Facebook's Data Privacy Violations

This case study examines the ethical implications of Facebook's practices, particularly in light of the Cambridge Analytica breach and other data privacy violations. The analysis utilizes several ethical theories, including utilitarianism, deontology, virtue theory, and contract theory, to evaluate the actions and inactions of Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The paper highlights concerns regarding user data, privacy settings, and marketing practices, and it considers the ethical responsibilities of both Facebook and regulatory bodies. The study concludes that the FTC's response has been insufficient and proposes changes such as reforming hiring practices, installing user representatives, and potentially unwinding mergers to address the ethical issues. The assignment is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of ethical frameworks and their application to real-world business scenarios.

Running head: ETHICAL THEORY
Case Study: Enforce the Order
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................2
2. Utilitarianism theory...........................................................................................................2
3. Deontology theory..............................................................................................................3
4. Virtue theory.......................................................................................................................3
5. Contract theory...................................................................................................................4
6. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................4
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................6

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1. Introduction
The paper mainly reflects on one of the news article “Enforce the Order”. It is found that
on 26th March 2018, it was announced by the federal trade commission that investigation
related with the Facebook practices will be reopened including the Cambridge analytical
breach. (FTC: Enforce the Order, 2019). The announcement was generally made because of
the number of violations. It is found that the paper utilizes ethical theories including virtue,
contract, deontology as well as utilitarianism in order to review the entire scenario as per the
ethical theories.
2. Utilitarianism theory
According to Faulhaber et al. (2019) utilitarianism is mainly defined as the normative
theory that is associated with ethics and which generally places the locus of the entire right as
well as wrong as per the result of selecting a particular action over the other actions which are
mainly present. It is found that the since the year 2011, a number of violations generally
occurs including the Cambridge Analytical breach. In addition to this, there are a number of
complaints against ignoring the setting related with privacy, users tracking, marketing to
children and more (Liu, Schuckert & Law, 2018). In one of the recent study it is reflected
that 80% of the users of social media are generally concerned about the businesses as well as
advertisers who will access their data while 64% said that the government must take proper
action in order to properly regulate the social media related companies (FTC: Enforce the
Order, 2019). It is analyzed that the FTC has generally not taken any step in order to stop this
type of issues and the actions that are taken by the FTC again the violations are not
considered ethical as they have not taken a single step for reducing the issues.

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3. Deontology theory
Deontology is mainly defined as one of the normative ethical theories on which the
entire morality of the action must be properly based whether the undertaken action will be
right or wrong under the various series of rules that is rather dependent on the consequences
(Sacco et al., 2017). As per the theory of deontology, it is found that the FTC has not done
anything in order to stop the number of violations including the Cambridge analytical breach.
It is found that due to the absence of their effort there are a number of complaints that are
mainly associated with marketing to the children, tracking users, ignoring the privacy
settings, health data as well as different types of facial recognition (Tenenbaum, 2017). Thus,
as per the consequences of the actions, it can be analyzed that as FTC has not taken any step
for stopping violations and therefore it is considered as one of the major ethical issue.
4. Virtue theory
It is stated by Murray (2016) that virtue ethics are generally considered as one of the
normative ethical theory which generally emphasizes the virtue of the minds as well as
character. It is found that since the year 2011, there are a number of violations are occurring.
In addition to the violations, one of the survey reflects that 80% of the people who are
generally the social media users are mainly concerned about the various businesses as well
as the advertisers who generally access different types of data as well as information (FTC:
Enforce the Order, 2019). The FTC has not done anything and it is found that the fines are
generally not considered as enough for the FTC but it is analyzed that they must generally
need to change their practices like reformation within the hiring practices, installation of the
directors for representing the user’s as well as unwinding the Instagram as well as Whatsapp
mergers. All the actions that are generally taken are considered to be ethical and it would be
helpful in resolving the issues that are occurring due to a number of violations.

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5. Contract theory
Contract theory is considered as the study in which the people as well as the organization
generally make their legal agreements (Christensen et al., 2016). It generally helps in
analyzing the interest that is generally building on the basis of formal as well an informal
contract. It is found that the as per the theory of contract, it is found that the as the FTC has
not taken any actions in order to stop the violations that are occurring since the ear 2011
therefore it is found that fines are not enough for the FTC. The FTC must need proper
changes within the entire practices of the business like reformation within the entire practices
of hiring, installation of the directors for properly representing the users as well as
appropriate unwinding on the Instagram as well as Whatsapp mergers (FTC: Enforce the
Order, 2019). All this actions are considered as legal agreements with the FTC as the FTC
needs to undertake all this actions in order to resolve the ethical issues as well as stop the
challenges that are associated with the FTC. Moreover, it is found that the actions that are
generally taken will helpful in resolving the ethical issues and challenges which are mainly
linked with the marketing to the children’s, ignoring the setting related to privacy, users
tracking as well as improper data gathering as well as appropriate facial recognition.
6. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the entire paper that the news article is mainly reviewed based
on the number of ethical theories in order to analyze that whether the actions that are taken
for resolving the problem that occur due to violations can be resolved. It is found that the
FTC must take appropriate actions in order to resolve the ethical issues that occur due to the
utilization of social media and as the FTC has not taken any step against the violations that
have taken in the past therefore it is necessary to fine the FTC by taking proper steps to

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reform the entire practices of hiring, installation of the directors for properly representing the
users.

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Bibliography
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Journal of accounting research, 54(2), 397-435
Faulhaber, A. K., Dittmer, A., Blind, F., Wächter, M. A., Timm, S., Sütfeld, L. R., ... &
König, P. (2019). Human decisions in moral dilemmas are largely described by
utilitarianism: Virtual car driving study provides guidelines for autonomous driving
vehicles. Science and engineering ethics, 25(2), 399-418.
FTC: Enforce the Order. (2019). Retrieved from https://epic.org/enforce-the-order/
Liu, X., Schuckert, M., & Law, R. (2018). Utilitarianism and knowledge growth during status
seeking: evidence from text mining of online reviews. Tourism Management, 66, 38-
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Murray, C. (2016). Being Right or Doing Right? Employing Virtue Theory in Response to
Religious Student Discourse in First-Year Writing.
Sacco, D. F., Brown, M., Lustgraaf, C. J., & Hugenberg, K. (2017). The adaptive utility of
deontology: Deontological moral decision-making fosters perceptions of trust and
likeability. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 3(2), 125-132.
Tenenbaum, S. (2017). Action, deontology, and risk: against the multiplicative model. Ethics,
127(3), 674-707.
Worthington, J. D., & Worthington Jr, E. L. (2019). Spiritual Formation by Training Leaders
in their Indigenous Cultures: The Importance of Cultural Humility and Virtue Theory.
Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, 12(1), 112-134.