Paul O'Flaherty

Facebook is pimping you (and how to stop it).

Did you know that Facebook is using your profile image to pimp dating services and other adverts to your friends? Neither did I! At least not until Cheryl Smith wrote about what happened to her and her husband.

Or else your husband may just see a Facebook ad with your picture in it advertising hot singles in your area. I’m not joking. Not too long ago, my husband Peter had this ad appear on his Facebook page. Good thing we both have a sense of humor!

My first instinct was WTF? Which was then followed by a sense of indignation! I’m in a relationship myself! Have Sara’s mates seen me advertised as a “hot single”?

Thankfully Cheryl also posted how to turn off this “feature” on Facebook:

(Hint: You may need to do this in a browser other than Firefox as the settings don’t always appear for some strange reason.)

1. Settings
2. Privacy
3. News Feed and Wall
4. Click on “Facebook Ads”
5. In the “Appearance in Facebook Ads” box, click “no one” (unless, of course, you actually want to tell your spouse to check out hot singles)

It was while I was “opting out” of this wonderful opportunity to be pimped to my friends that I read this:

Facebook occasionally pairs advertisements with relevant social actions from a user’s friends to create Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads make advertisements more interesting and more tailored to you and your friends. These respect all privacy rules. You may opt out of appearing in your friends’ Facebook Ads below.

I added the bold highlighting of “These respect all privacy rules.”

Those words, “These respect all privacy rules” stood out like a sore thumb amidst that short paragraph of text.

Why was it there? It’s out of place considering you already agreed to Facebook’s terms of service.

Then it struck me! It’s there because they knew that people would be annoyed, upset, and indignant as hell when they found it.

They knew that using your face to pimp out advertising and dating services would rub people up the wrong way.

It’s their was of saying “We know what we’re doing is wrong, but it’s not against the rules, so piss off and don’t bother complaining to anybody!”.

I know I’m not the only one who, while I can see the vaguely funny side of it, am frankly shocked that Facebook would be stupid enough to do this. I’ve used the method above to turn off this “feature”, to “opt out”!

But opting out is not enough. I should never have been “opted in” in the first place.

The long rambling (subject to change with minimal notice and no dialogue) terms of service, full of legalese, do nothing to protect the end user from this kind of behaviour.

It needs to made clear to users in plain, simple, readable terms that don’t require the services of a lawyer exactly what they are getting themselves into when they sign up!

Would you honestly have signed up for Facebook if you knew they would use your image in this way?

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