> Privacy advocates said the partnerships seemed to violate a 2011 consent agreement between Facebook and the F.T.C., stemming from allegations that the company had shared data in ways that deceived consumers.
That (among other things) is what's landing Facebook in legal trouble.
The 2011 FTC consent agreement itself does carry the force of law, which means that if Facebook breaks the terms, it's breaking the law and penalties can be assessed.
I failed to add a qualifier (as in "good" laws, "robust" laws, etc.), but the comment I was responding to was a broad generalization and not specific to this case.
I was aiming at the notion that "this isn't how the law works".
Because other people are doing bad things, it's OK for Facebook to do bad things.
I'm not sure that's how the law works.