Facebook is nominating one of its longtime marketing execs to be the new chief privacy officer for product

Rob Price

Jul 24, 2019, 22:59 IST

Facebook is nominating one of its longtime marketing execs to be the new chief privacy officer for product

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook has nominated one of its executives to become its new chief privacy officer, product.
Michel Protti previously worked as a product marketing exec, and his nomination requires confirmation from the company board.
On Wednesday, the FTC announced it had reached a $5 billion settlement with Facebook over its privacy issues.
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Facebook plans to appoint a new chief privacy officer to oversee its products following its $5 billion settlement with US regulators.

A spokesperson for the $574 billion company told Business Insider on Wednesday that it is nominating Michel Protti, a former product marketing executive, to the newly created role - but his nomination will require confirmation by the privacy committee that Facebook is required to establish as part of the settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

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Protti's nomination was first reported by Adweek.

On Wednesday, the FTC formally announced that it had reached a settlement with Facebook over its probe into the company's myriad privacy issues. Facebook will pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine, implement greater oversight when it comes to handling user data, and create the new privacy committee on its board of directors, among other changes.

But it does not force the California tech firm to make any more fundamental structural changes to its business, and some critics have blasted the settlement as inadequate for punishing Facebook's alleged transgressions.

In an email obtained by Adweek, Facebook advertising exec Carolyn Everson told agency partners that the company is placing three executives into privacy-focused roles. It hopes to make Protti Chief Privacy Officer, Product, as well as making VP of instrasturcture Delfina Eberly as the lead for Privacy Programs Audit and Oversight, and making VP of engineering Vladimir Fedorov the lead for "Privacy review across all our product and engineering teams."

Protti has been with Facebook since December 2013, working first as as director of emerging business before becoming director of partnerships product marketing, and then becoming VP of partnerships product marketing in March of this year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He previously worked at Yahoo as a VP, Chief of Staff and a country manager for Yahoo Canada, as well as SVP of strategy and business operations at Guggenheim media.

He studied Drama at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada and subsequently earned a business MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

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