It's interesting to consider the psychological aspect here. By publicly saying they expect a fine in the range $3-5 billion, Facebook increases the chance that

It's interesting to consider the psychological aspect here. By publicly saying they expect a fine in the range $3-5 billion, Facebook increases the chance that the regulators ultimately decide on a figure in that range or close to it. This is an example of 'anchoring effect' : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring Given this effect, Facebook has an incentive to 'low-ball' their estimate.