Thanks for posting this and Facebooks response. I use Safari but I will absolutely jump on the Firefox unable to opt out bandwagon. I'm sure Facebook intended that!

P.S. I also like how you have tagged this article as 'fail'

That’s extremely good to hear, and yet I can’t help but ask why this sort of information doesn’t get pushed to your users. I know I’m not the only person (as evidenced by the twitter-traffic) that feels the way I do about your company’s advertising practices. Ads are expected, and only a fool would think to complain about reasonable advertisements on a site that provides services free of charge. That doesn’t make the ads any less gaudy, or even flat-out offensive.

User-data is expected to be used for marketing, but not the users themselves. I very seriously doubt that Facebook thought this practice honorable to begin with, or they wouldn’t have done it so stealthily. In fact several people have mentioned to me that they would have opted in had they been given the option, if only for the entertainment value in having their faces displayed on ads that would otherwise be completely non sequitur. Since this was not the case, the overall opinion I’m getting is that your users think less of your company now than they did before.

I would think that after the recent debacle over the ownership of user-data that Facebook would tread more lightly. Using someone’s visage without their informed consent, with the goal of making a profit (whether it be for Facebook or an affiliate), is nothing short of dirty. People usually get paid for that sort of thing, and at the very least they’re told about it first.

I sincerely hope that what you’ve said about your company is true, and I mean that. I think it’s great that you came here to respond the way you did. Thank you.

-Matthew

We are continuing to investigate to make sure ads that violate our policies stay off Facebook and may take further action against developers who host the ads.

It’s an important issue, and one we take seriously.

David

I know that technically they might not have to listen, but maybe if enough people speak up they will?

I didn’t imply anything, in fact, if you read this page – I even stated that this takes place within friends’ networks:

“Your face may have already been used to advertise any number of things to the people on your friends-list.“

So you’d be ok with your friends seeing your face on ads for local singles, or Viagra, or some get rich quick scheme? I’ve seen some seedy ads on Facebook, to the point that I really don’t think they bother screening them more than simply checking for outright pornography. On top of that, many people have upwards of 100 friends; I’ve seen accounts with a thousand before, it’s not out of place. How is it in any way acceptable that the friends and family of a married couple see the wife’s face displayed on ads for “hot local singles?”

Maybe you only have 4 friends on Facebook and wouldn’t be adversely affected by something like this, but most other people have a bit more going on than that.