Federal Trade Commission confirms probe into Facebook's privacy practices

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The Federal Trade Commission confirmed Monday that it has opened an investigation into Facebook's privacy practices. "The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook," the commission said in a statement.

Facebook faced fresh questions this weekend after Ars Technica reported that some users had found the site collected years of contact names, phone numbers, and text messages. Separately, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took out ads in major papers this weekend apologizing for the scandal surrounding Cambridge Analytica, a data firm alleged to have illicitly acquired and used information from the Facebook profiles of tens of millions of Americans.

"We have a responsibility to protect your information," Zuckerberg wrote. "If we can't, we don't deserve it."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.