Your Photo May Appear in a Facebook Ad

Here we go again! Facebook wants to take the photos and content that you post and use them in advertisements. You won’t be able to opt-out of this new change. Your image might appear in an ad for a product that you “liked” – or in an ad for a product you have never used or that you dislike.

Facebook announced this upcoming change on August 29, 2013. A portion of the updates are in regards to “Advertisement and Other Commercial Content Served or Enhanced by Facebook.” Some of it reads:

You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us. This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without compensation to you. If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it.

If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to the terms of this section (and the use of your name, profile picture, content, and information) on your behalf.

Does your child or teen use Facebook? His or her photos, information, and whatever other content he or she posts may be used in Facebook ads. Parents are going to be presumed to have consented to that use simply by allowing their child or teen to continue to use Facebook.

In 2012, a group of Facebook users from California filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook. It was specifically in regards to Facebook’s “Sponsored Stories”. The group argued that Facebook violated California law because Facebook did not publicize that a user’s profile photo could appear in a “Sponsored Story” ad as a result of a user clicking “like” (on a company or product). Ultimately, courts decided that Facebook had to provide payments of up to $10.00 for users who objected to being included in “Sponsored Story” ads.

Personally, I think that Facebook’s new update regarding ads is the company’s way of getting around the issue that resulted in a class action lawsuit in 2012. They are informing users that their photos and content may be used in Facebook ads. Sadly, Facebook still fails to understand that users don’t want their photos and content (or that of their child or teen) to be used in advertisements.