Facebook Pictures Used in Advertising

Facebook security has faced some rough times in the past, like any social network is bound to face, but a recent issue has caught much attention because of its humor.

Peter Smith of Lynchburg, VA, was browsing around Facebook when he saw an ad for a single’s site. He normally would not have thought anything about it, except that this particular time, the ad depicted his wife!

“Fortunately, he has a sense of humor. Otherwise it could have played out very differently,” Cheryl Smith, wife of Peter Smith, said to MSNBC.

Peter’s good humor about the matter definitely helped. The couple uncovered a sneaky third party application snatching up profile pictures from here and there and putting them in ads. Last Friday, July 24^th, Facebook said in regards to the stolen photos, “The advertisements … were not from Facebook but placed within applications by third parties. Those ads violated our policies by misusing profile photos, and we already required the removal of those deceptive ads from third-party applications before this rumor began spreading.”

Cheryl Smith has been sharing her experience and giving advice on social networking matters on her blog. She gives one option for avoiding the misuse of your pictures:

Under your privacy settings, go to the “News Feed and Wall” link, then under “Facebook Ads,” then change the bottom drop down box to say “No one.” This way none of your photos will be able to be used in advertisements.