Facebook Inc uncovered emails that appear to show Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg's connection to potentially problematic privacy practices at the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Within the company, the unearthing of the emails in the process of responding to a continuing federal privacy investigation has raised concerns that they would be harmful to Facebook, at least from a public-relations standpoint, if they were to become public, the WSJ reported.
The report said it could not be determined exactly what emails the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested and how many of them relate to Zuckerberg.
"Facebook and its executives, including Mark, at all times strive to comply with all applicable law, and at no point did Mark or any other Facebook employee knowingly violate the company’s obligations under the FTC consent order," a company spokesman said in a statement.
"We have fully cooperated with the FTC's investigation to date and provided tens of thousands of documents, emails and files."
Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company fell 2.5% to $173.64.
The FTC and the Department of Justice, which enforce antitrust laws in the United States, are gearing up to investigate whether Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Facebook and Alphabet's Google misuse their massive market power.
Reuters
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