By: Sarah Weiss
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| Unauthorized Facebook ad |
The lawsuit, filed by five members of Facebook in California, argues that the social networking site violated state law by publishing the users 'likes' for certain advertisers in its role as "sponsored stories without paying them or giving them a way to opt out the documents said.
This court resolution could allow millions of other Facebook users to take similar legal action.
A "sponsored story" is an ad that appears on a user's page on Facebook and usually consists of the name of another friend, the image and the statement that "likes" the person with the advertiser.
The lawsuit accuses Facebook terms of use "tricks users into thinking they can prohibit the use of their name and profile picture in the ads.
The agreement puts a question mark on a major source of advertising revenue for the company.
Facebook declined to comment on the court ruling.