The F.T.C.’s turnabout came in response to a blistering dissent from the Facebook settlement by one commissioner, J. Thomas Rosch, who said that allowing the company to deny charges it was agreeing to settle undermined the commission’s authority.

In November, the F.T.C. said that Facebook had deceived consumers by telling them that their personal information would be kept private, while “repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public.”

The commission voted 3-1, with one abstention, to impose a 20-year consent order requiring Facebook to protect its users’ privacy. The company agreed to give consumers clear and prominent notice and to obtain their express consent before revealing information beyond their previously stated privacy settings, to maintain a comprehensive program to safeguard private information, and to obtain an independent privacy audit every two years.

Facebook said in a statement on Friday, “We are pleased that the settlement, which was announced last November, has received final approval.” The company did not repeat its assertion, made in November, that it “expressly denies the allegations set forth in the complaint,” but the F.T.C. still considers that statement to be part of the case record.

A Facebook spokesman declined to comment beyond the company’s one-sentence statement.

Mr. Rosch agreed with the general outlines of the Facebook settlement, but wrote in his dissent that the Federal Trade Commission Rules of Practice “do not provide for such a denial” of the charges. Read more →