BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook had a strong fourth quarter, making more money on advertising and adding more users despite challenges around regulation, privacy and efforts to fight election interference.
Its profit and revenue both handily surpassed Wall Street's expectations.
The company also said it settled a lawsuit filed in 2015 over its facial recognition practices and will pay $550 million as a result. The suit alleged Facebook violated Illinois privacy regulations with a feature that suggested to users other people to tag in their photos. Facebook replaced the tag suggestion tool with a broader facial recognition setting last year.
Facebook said that about 2.89 billion people use at least one of its services — Facebook, WhatsApp, Instag
