Facebook Settles 'Sponsored Stories' Suit For $10M To Charity 34
Reuters reports that Facebook has taken the face-saving move (and a cheap one, considering the company's market cap) of settling for $10 million — plus lawyers' fees — the lawsuit brought against it for appropriating users' names and pictures in deceptive ads. Says the linked story: "The lawsuit, brought by five Facebook members, alleged the social networking site violated California law by publicizing users' 'likes' of certain advertisers on its 'Sponsored Stories' feature without paying them or giving them a way to opt out, the documents said. A 'Sponsored Story' is an advertisement that appears on a member's Facebook page and generally consists of another friend's name, profile picture and an assertion that the person 'likes' the advertiser."
Re:Does this work for people, or just companies? (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the perfect way how this "sponsored stories" misfeature may backfire. Closeted gay person likes an ad about an anal dildo or a new gay bathhouse in town. Next day, the ad shows up on all his straight friends' and work colleagues' profiles with his name attached...