Facebook Agrees To Let Users Control Whether Or Not They’re Advertising Something

Facebook has finally agreed that yeah, maybe users should be able to control whether or not it appears to their friends that they’re advertising a product or page. Fancy that! As part of the settlement in a lawsuit brought by five users, Facebook says it will change its controls to enable members to control which content can be used in Sponsored Stories.

According to Reuters, Facebook could stand to lose about $103 million in potential revenue from the change.

The Facebook members who sued said the social network had turned them into marketers without giving them any compensation or a chance to opt out of advertising their “likes” to their friends.

The settlement agreement filed yesterday says Facebook will maintain these changes and other new disclosures for at least two years. It still needs to be approved by a U.S. District Judge in California, who will decide whether the deal’s terms are good enough for the plaintiffs.

As reported earlier, Facebook will pay $10 million to charity as part of the deal, and another $10 million for plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees.

Facebook will change ad service to settle lawsuit [Reuters]

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