With the explosive takeover of Social Media, with it comes a slew of advertisement opportunities. Facebook generates most of its revenue from sponsors and advertisers who help keep the social network up and running. Along the side bar or even on your feed you’ll see Sponsored Stories of a popular topic or event going on at that time. Usually these stories originate from a user who brought up or referred to a specific story.
Popular stories often go ‘Viral’, or gain a ton of internet popularity, which causes the stories to travel like wild fire. Facebook has coded ‘Sponsored Stories’ to work like advertisements when a user interacts with that business, organization or individuals page. Typically you’ll see.. “John Smith likes New Era”, “John Smith played Farmville” etc. This is usually done without the users consent or awareness of it even occurring; and sometimes it could be a child’s page. A user has filed a Class Action Lawsuit stating Facebook unlawfully used the names, profile pictures, photographs, likenesses, and identities of Facebook users in the United States to advertise or sell products and services through Sponsored Stories without obtaining those users’ consent.
Similar to Instagram’s TOS issues not so long ago, Facebook plans to make changes to their Terms of Service that fully details and explains how their information will be used and displayed. Also, they will be adding management of these services and features allowing you to opt out or be made aware, if need be. Facebook will pay $20 million into a fund that can be used, in part, to pay claims of Class Members who appeared in a Sponsored Story. Each participating Class Member who submits a valid and timely claim form may be eligible to receive up to $10.
