Facebook Friend Finder Class Action Lawsuit

Looks like Facebook is in trouble — once again — for violating users’ privacy. The popular social network is facing a second class action lawsuit for allegedly using the names and photographs of its users to advertise its “Friend Finder” service without their knowledge or consent, and uses its users’ email contacts to spam non-Facebook members to join Facebook.

According to the Facebook Friend Finder class action lawsuit, “the tantalizing and direct connection between” its growing number of users and its “untold wealth has caused Facebook to turn its back” on its “lofty” principals that “people should have the freedom to decide with whom they will share their information, and to set privacy controls to protect those choices.”

The class action alleges that Friend Finder “features a potentially intrusive utility” that “uploads users’ entire body of email contacts to a database maintained by Facebook.” When users click on the “Learn More” about Friend Finder hyperlink, they are unwittingly allowing Facebook to use their email contacts uploaded through the Friend Finder service to spam non-Facebook members to join Facebook.

“To promote the use of its Friend Finder service, Facebook has and continues to post the names and likenesses of a user’s friends on that user’s Facebook.com page…[however] the friends whose names and likenesses are used to promote Friend Finder have not actually consented to use their names and likenesses to endorse Facebook’s Friend Finder service, nor does Facebook disclose to such users that Facebook intended to use their names and likeness to promote the Friend Finder service to others,” the class action lawsuit states.

The Facebook Friend Finder class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all U.S. residents whose names or likenesses were utilized by Facebook without their knowledge or consent to advertise Facebook’s “Friend Finder” service. It is seeking an award of $750 for each violation of each class member’s statutory right of publicity, an award of actual damages to each class member in the amount of no less than $100 million, and other relief.

A copy of the Facebook Friend Finder Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.