Leading social networking platform Facebook Inc. is facing litigation due to allegedly breaking state advertising laws because of minors using the “like” functionality are able to respond to advertising campaigns without prior parental permission.
According to a Bloomberg report, the lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, was instigated in a federal court in Brooklyn on Monday May 2, representing New York Facebook users under the age of 18 who were exposed when “their names or likenesses [were] used on a Facebook feed or in an advertisement sold by Facebook Inc. without the consent of their parents or guardians.”
Based on court papers, “Users can prevent their endorsements from being shared with their friends by limiting who can see their posts through their privacy settings. … There is, however, no mechanism in place by which a user can prevent their name and likeness from appearing on a Facebook page if they have ‘liked’ it.”
One of the channels of advertising income for the social networking giant is to enable promotional material to appear as “social ads.” If a Facebook user “likes” an advertisement by clicking on the icon, this will automatically become a feed that will be channeled to other individuals who are already connected.
Frank Nastro, on behalf of his under 18-year-old son Justin Nastro, filed the court case seeking damages equivalent to the revenue that Facebook receives from the misuse of personal identities.
The regulation allegedly being violated in this instance is the New York Civil Rights Law, which prohibits a person’s picture being used for marketing or sales purposes without their authorization.
Another recent marketing-related potential class-action lawsuit that also involves Facebook, along with Twitter and Myspace, is in regard to consumer protection laws being violated in California.
The issue in that case concerns users who had opted out of receiving promotional material, but still received an SMS messages to mobile phones confirming their wish not to receive SMS notifications. The final SMS is under contention, whereby claims were made that this type of communication is prohibited according to the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which protects individuals from receiving automated and unsolicited telephone calls on their cellular phones.
According to a Bloomberg report, the lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, was instigated in a federal court in Brooklyn on Monday May 2, representing New York Facebook users under the age of 18 who were exposed when “their names or likenesses [were] used on a Facebook feed or in an advertisement sold by Facebook Inc. without the consent of their parents or guardians.”
Based on court papers, “Users can prevent their endorsements from being shared with their friends by limiting who can see their posts through their privacy settings. … There is, however, no mechanism in place by which a user can prevent their name and likeness from appearing on a Facebook page if they have ‘liked’ it.”
One of the channels of advertising income for the social networking giant is to enable promotional material to appear as “social ads.” If a Facebook user “likes” an advertisement by clicking on the icon, this will automatically become a feed that will be channeled to other individuals who are already connected.
Frank Nastro, on behalf of his under 18-year-old son Justin Nastro, filed the court case seeking damages equivalent to the revenue that Facebook receives from the misuse of personal identities.
The regulation allegedly being violated in this instance is the New York Civil Rights Law, which prohibits a person’s picture being used for marketing or sales purposes without their authorization.
Another recent marketing-related potential class-action lawsuit that also involves Facebook, along with Twitter and Myspace, is in regard to consumer protection laws being violated in California.
The issue in that case concerns users who had opted out of receiving promotional material, but still received an SMS messages to mobile phones confirming their wish not to receive SMS notifications. The final SMS is under contention, whereby claims were made that this type of communication is prohibited according to the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which protects individuals from receiving automated and unsolicited telephone calls on their cellular phones.
