Social Media

Facebook's Ad Platform Causes Complaint Of Privacy Groups


Where there's smoke, there's fire. Recent outcry by certain bloggers about Facebook's new advertising platform now gets a formal epilogue, as several privacy groups ready to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission against Facebook's practices. Our own Mark has had quite a lot to say on the subject; check here if you want to catch up.

The focus of the complaint, which will be filed by Electronic Privacy Information Center as well as The Center for Digital Democracy, are of course Facebook's SocialAds and Beacon programs. The problem? In short, Facebook is turning its users into (perhaps unwilling) marketing vehicles for their advertisers.

"Part of what Facebook is doing is taking from people the value of their endorsements, which traditionally is something that people can be compensated for, and selling it back to their advertisers," says EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg.

Another activist group, MoveOn, doesn't like Facebook's Bacn. Sure, Facbeook users can opt-out of it, but MoveOn claims it should be the other way round: turned off by default, with users being able to join the program if they want to. They've started a Facebook group to spread the word, called Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!

These complaints aren't without merit. Whether something is turned on or off by default can be a big difference. For example, what would you say if Google gave away all your personal info unless you switched it off through a checkbox on some obscure page? Many Facebook users aren't really all that tech-savvy and they might not be aware that Facebook is sending the world information about the books or movies they purchase.

Furthermore, as noted by Online Media Daily, some us states have laws designed to protect people from companies using their image to promote products. Sure, when you sign as a fan of a company, you explicitly give your consent for this; but many people don't read the fine print. If they are to avoid complaints like those mentioned above, at the very least Facebook should make sure that their "opt-out" and "written consent" messages cannot be missed.

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