Q, you asked regulate or kill. I would propose that there is a better option, penalize FB by giving a share to each (American) victim of data abuse, both those users whose data was misused and shared improperly, and those who never signed up but were tracked and profiled despite never having agreed to any TOS. Anothr share for each violation. Don't give the power to the quickly and easily captured regulators who will be quickly compromised with donations and lobbying and the revolving door, give it directly to the people through equity ownership. It doesn't destroy FB as a company, or platform but it dramatically diminishes the value stolen from the American people by stealing and abusing their data. Give the value back to the people, by diluting the existing ownership claims massively. Force FB to compensate their victims with new shares, Zuckerburg would no longer have a controlling interest, and the share price would be dramatically lower. And if the new owners don't want to abuse user data to maximize MZ's net worth, the world will be a better place. Plus we would finally see real contrition. The penalty for privacy violations should be giving shares to those violated.

Goes for google and others too. It would be a boon to the economy too…put even more money in people's pockets than the tax cut, reduce inequality to boot. Privacy violation penalties should be compensated with shares.