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Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

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Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#51

Post by orijing »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #39
pmorici wrote: post #12

This article is disingenuous. Facebook is putting related sponsored content next to a 'like' in the feed and it is labeled as such. The complaint here boils down to that an unsophisticated viewer might think that sponsored content was what was originally liked when it was actually not. They say this is "impersonating a user". That seems way over the top.

You're facts are correct and this isn't officially "impersonating a user." However, there is a very fine line that Facebook is crossing. Specifically, these sponsored posts are displayed in a way that causes confusion to the viewing user and, I am confident, this confusion is intentional on Facebook's part. As an apt web user with quite a bit of experience with Facebook and the web in general, I still get confused by…

> I am confident, this confusion is intentional on Facebook's part.

How can you be so confident about someone's intent?

I disagree with your assessment but didn't downvote your comment because I want to understand.

Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#52

Post by jonchris »

rjsamson wrote: post #44
jxi wrote: post #8

The question is: can I opt out of this, or am I obliged to deal with this as long as I'm a Facebook user. I personally find this is pretty bad. I don't want my friends seeing my past likes from several years ago and seeing me endorse something stupid that I liked before (on the front page). Do I need to go through my likes and curate it all the time? It's different if it's just on my profile because having it in the…

Yes - you can opt out of this - to do so, go to your settings, then click on 'ads' in the sidebar on the left and select 'edit' on the ads & friends section - there you can set "Pair my social actions with ads for" to "no one".

also turning off "Third Party Sites" which is dangerous in the same way.

Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#54

Post by mekwall »

timerickson wrote: post #19
pmorici wrote: post #12

This article is disingenuous. Facebook is putting related sponsored content next to a 'like' in the feed and it is labeled as such. The complaint here boils down to that an unsophisticated viewer might think that sponsored content was what was originally liked when it was actually not. They say this is "impersonating a user". That seems way over the top.

Correct, but it is still a very valid concern. The post from OP stemmed from such an "unsophisticated viewer," namely: his mother; she thought that he had liked an article about "Penis Waffles" that VICE posted some months ago, and she urged him to take the post down due to its vulgar nature. Of course, he couldn't take the post down, and had no way of even KNOWING the post was being shown to his friends and family.

It is not. It can be turned off... https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social...

Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#55

Post by mekwall »

rjsamson wrote: post #44
jxi wrote: post #8

The question is: can I opt out of this, or am I obliged to deal with this as long as I'm a Facebook user. I personally find this is pretty bad. I don't want my friends seeing my past likes from several years ago and seeing me endorse something stupid that I liked before (on the front page). Do I need to go through my likes and curate it all the time? It's different if it's just on my profile because having it in the…

Yes - you can opt out of this - to do so, go to your settings, then click on 'ads' in the sidebar on the left and select 'edit' on the ads & friends section - there you can set "Pair my social actions with ads for" to "no one".

Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=social...

Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#56

Post by DanBC »

shock-value wrote: post #25
pmorici wrote: post #12

This article is disingenuous. Facebook is putting related sponsored content next to a 'like' in the feed and it is labeled as such. The complaint here boils down to that an unsophisticated viewer might think that sponsored content was what was originally liked when it was actually not. They say this is "impersonating a user". That seems way over the top.

Did you read the second part of it (and the article to which it links)? The implication is that Facebook is generating unintended likes for users out of thin air, so to speak. The screenshots provided clearly show what appear to be genuine "likes", not just a misleading juxtaposition. Moreover, it asserts that said users, once notified, were able to go manually "unlike" the content they claimed never to have liked in…

The likes are recycled. Bob likes an article on a website. Two years later that website advertises with Facebook. Facebook re-use Bob's like, and post the ad.

Some people 'like' a lot of things and might not remember what they've liked; or they may discover something about a previously liked company but not know how to unlike things or etc etc.

Facebook say you can turn off this behaviour. (https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&view)

I'm not sure I'd use the word "malicious", but the combinations of obscure settings (how to find the list of liked things; how to unlike things; how to opt out of social ads; etc) is sub-optimal and gives the appearance of sleazy marketing.

Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#57

Post by matthuggins »

crcn wrote: post #48
pmorici wrote: post #12

This article is disingenuous. Facebook is putting related sponsored content next to a 'like' in the feed and it is labeled as such. The complaint here boils down to that an unsophisticated viewer might think that sponsored content was what was originally liked when it was actually not. They say this is "impersonating a user". That seems way over the top.

I tried to be as genuine as possible. My wording revolved around unsophisticated individuals who makeup a majority of Facebook. "Impersonation" perhaps isn't the proper word to use, but it certainly encompasses the general concern about promoted content. To the eyes of an unsophisticated friend, I like penis waffles. For the record, I don't. I never liked anything similar, but Facebook re-posted a "like" (VICE) under…

It does make it clear with the obvious "RELATED POST" language that is in capital letters between the " likes " and the post below it.

Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#59

Post by jaredmcateer »

orijing wrote: post #51
tobyjsullivan wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're facts are correct and this isn't officially "impersonating a user." However, there is a very fine line that Facebook is crossing. Specifically, these sponsored posts are displayed in a way that causes confusion to the viewing user and, I am confident, this confusion is intentional on Facebook's part. As an apt web user with quite a bit of experience with Facebook and the web in general, I still get confused by…

> I am confident, this confusion is intentional on Facebook's part. How can you be so confident about someone's intent ? I disagree with your assessment but didn't downvote your comment because I want to understand.

He can feel confident because Facebook has a history of misleading users or oversharing data and this isn't a court room, rather the internet, and there is little consequence if he's wrong.

I'm not 100% confident that Facebook's intention was to mislead but the simple fact that these posts aren't being shown to the user(s) that they are being linked to is pretty damning.

Re: Facebook is impersonating users without their consent

#60

Post by batiudrami »

SeanDav wrote: post #30

By now, everyone should know that anything you post or do, at all, on Facebook is probably going to become public at some point. That is how Facebook makes its money. If you value your privacy then simply don't use Facebook. I stopped about 2 years ago and quite frankly I haven't missed it for a moment. If you do want to use Facebook then accept that your data is not your own, no matter what they say and quit complai…

It's really not, and there's no evidence of it. There are tight privacy controls which allows you to determine what people can see.

Even as it is, these are items which the user has chosen to 'like', something that is shared with friends (and optionally everyone, depending on your privacy settings). I don't like how users names can be put at the top of sponsored posts, but at no point are users being misrepresented, or is their privacy at risk, unless they have not configured their privacy settings correctly.

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