If you are a Facebook user I’m sure you have seen those
advertisements that have one of your friends names in it stating that they
“like” that product or service and showing their profile picture next to the
ad. These ads make a recommendation for that product or service from your
friend but the catch is that your friend actually did not recommend the product
or service. Plus your friend doesn’t get any compensation from the advertiser
for them using their name and picture for the ad and they don’t even know that
they are being used in this way.
Five California residents sued Facebook over this
practice stating that it violates California law and the case was actually
settled last month but just now made public. According to the lawsuit, this
could have included one of every three Americans and could have been a huge
payment for many people if more lawsuits were to follow. U.S. District Judge
Lucy Koh found that Facebook's Sponsored Stories could cause "economic
injury" by using friends' names, likenesses and pictures. She ordered a
cy-pres settlement, meaning Facebook's $10 million would be sent to charity.
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