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"The Silicon Valley company and the F.T.C.'s consumer protection and enforcement staff have been in negotiations for months over a financial penalty"

Honest question: What gets negotiated in this kind of settlement? What leverage does Facebook have in this situation to say, "no, that fine is too high"?

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I'd assume it would look something like:

"No, that fine is too high. We'll settle this in court(s) since we think we can do better."

Now the FTC is facing a potentially big delay and a risk of no fine if the courts eventually hand Facebook a favorable decision.

> Now the FTC is facing a potentially big delay and a risk of no fine

The risk is much higher than that. There's a risk that a court rejects the entire justification for the fine greatly reducing both the ftc's ability to impose future fines and their power in general.

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