Controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
Back to profile142 entries · Page 7 of 8
2020
Facebook content moderators file class-action lawsuit
Lawsuit filed
More than 3,000 U.S. employees who worked as Facebook content moderators through Cognizant filed a class-action lawsuit naming Facebook and Cognizant as defendants. The plaintiffs allege that reviewing harmful content caused psychological trauma and PTSD, and seek $5 million in compensation.
Source excerpt
据外媒最新消息,日前,3000多名在印度外包巨头高知特(Cognizant)公司担任Facebook内容审核员的美国员工发起了一宗集体诉讼,Facebook和高知特被列为被告方,这些内容审核员要求对这份工作引发的精神损害进行经济补偿。
据报道,这些原告指出,他们长期帮助Facebook进行审核用户有害内容的工作,这引发了心理创伤以及创伤后应激障碍(PTSD),他们要求Facebook和高知特公司提供500万美元的赔偿。
2020
U.S. House report alleges Facebook used acquisitions and other tactics to entrench monopoly power
Issue disclosure
The U.S. House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee published a report alleging that Facebook consolidated its monopoly position by acquiring, copying, or crushing competitors it identified as potential threats. These are the report's conclusions and allegations, not a stated court determination.
Source excerpt
报告指出,Facebook通过识别可能对其构成威胁的竞争对手,收购、抄袭或扼杀他们来巩固其垄断地位。
美国国会众院司法委员会反垄断小组委员会周二发布了有关如何改革法律以适应数字时代的调查报告,称Facebook、亚马逊、谷歌母公司Alphabet和苹果存在“垄断嫌疑”,建议相关公司进行重大调整。
2020
Washington state sues Facebook over political-ad disclosures
Lawsuit filed
Washington state sued Facebook, alleging that it sold political ads without disclosing all required information about who was behind them. The attorney general’s complaint said Facebook had sold ads to at least 171 Washington state political committees since November 2018 for at least $525,000.
Source excerpt
T he attorney general’s complaint, filed Tuesday in King County Superior Court, said that since November 2018, Facebook sold ads to at least 171 Washington state political committees for payments totaling at least $525,000.
SEATTLE (AP) – Washington state is suing Facebook – again – for selling political ads without disclosing all necessary information about who’s behind them.
The attorney general’s complaint, filed Tuesday in King County Superior Court, said that since November 2018, Facebook sold hundreds of ads to at least 171 Washington state political committees for payments totaling at least $525,000.
2020
Facebook pledges further action on hateful content
Company response
Facebook said it would take further steps to remove toxic and hateful content and announced that policy updates would follow discussions with civil-rights activists and its civil-rights audit. The pledge came amid an advertiser boycott pressing the platform to address racism and violence.
Stated objective. remove toxic and hateful content from the leading social network
Source excerpt
Sandberg said the final report of audit would be published Wednesday following a two-year review, and that this would be used to guide Facebook policy changes.
Facebook on Tuesday pledged to take further steps to remove toxic and hateful content from the leading social network as its top executives were set to meet with organizers of a mushrooming ad boycott.
2019
Current sues Facebook over Calibra logo
Lawsuit filed
Current filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging trademark infringement over the Calibra logo. The suit also names Calibra, a Facebook subsidiary that owns IP related to Calibra, and design agency Character as defendants; the article reports allegations, not a court determination.
Source excerpt
Facebook used Princeton’s scraped dataset, called SUNCG dataset, for the competition and made it available to those competing.
UAB Planner5D filed a complaint against defendants Facebook and Princeton University for copyright infringement.
2019
Attorneys general expand antitrust investigation into Facebook
Investigation
In October 2019, New York Attorney General Leticia James announced that 39 additional states had joined an antitrust investigation into Facebook. According to the announcement, the expansion brought the effort's support to 47 attorneys general from states and the District of Columbia. The event is recorded as a controversy note in the brand's wiki, reflecting the widening of the multistate antitrust scrutiny of Facebook at that time.
Source excerpt
Our investigation now has the support of 47 attorneys general from around the nation, who are all concerned that Facebook may have put consumer data at risk, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, and increased the price of advertising.
New York AG Leticia James, who is leading the probe, made the announcement Tuesday that 39 more states had joined her investigative effort since she first announced it last month.
The country's Personal Information Protection Commission, launched in August this year, said in a statement it fined Facebook after a probe found that the personal information of least 3.3 million of the 18 million Facebook users in Korea were provided to operators other than Facebook without their knowledge, from May 2012 to June 2018.
2019
Facebook announced political-ad policy and misinformation safeguards
Company response
Facebook announced updates to its political-ad practices ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, including greater transparency in its ad library, a candidate ad-spend tracker, and measures to label state-controlled media and content rated false or partly false by third-party fact-checkers. It also introduced Facebook Protect to help secure accounts of candidates, elected officials and their teams.
Source excerpt
The tech giant updated its Coronavirus Newsroom post on Thursday with its commitment to taking down false information that has been debunked by public health experts regarding vaccines across Facebook and Instagram.
As the UK is on the brink of starting to administer COVID-19 vaccinations, Facebook has updated its misinformation policy to reflect that it will remove false claims about vaccines.
Facebook said it won't be able to fully enforce these measures right away.
2019
Libra Association responds to regulatory concerns
Company response
In a controversy note concerning Facebook, the Libra Association stated that it was working with regulators to address concerns about how the Libra system would comply with anti-money-laundering requirements. The association's statement was a response to regulatory concerns regarding the Libra system's compliance with anti-money-laundering rules. The note records the association's stated position that it was cooperating with regulators on this matter.
The Libra Association said it was working with regulators to address concerns about how the Libra system would comply with anti-money-laundering requirements.
Stated objective. Reassure regulators about the system's anti-money-laundering compliance.
Company response
Clarification — Libra Association
Today, we are carrying out a normal course of work with regulators to show them that, in terms of anti-money laundering, the (Libra) system will be at least equivalent to the conventional monetary system
Source excerpt
The head of the Libra Association, created by Facebook to launch its new cryptocurrency, said Thursday the project’s leaders would aim to “reassure” regulators who have voiced mounting concern over the virtual money.
Today, we are carrying out a normal course of work with regulators to show them that, in terms of anti-money laundering, the (Libra) system will be at least equivalent to the conventional monetary system
2019
Court dismisses investor lawsuit against Facebook
Ruling
A US federal judge dismissed an investor lawsuit accusing Facebook and executives of deceiving investors about the likely effect of a privacy breach on Facebook's stock price. The judge said the investors had not sufficiently alleged that Facebook or its executives knowingly made false statements; the investors were allowed to refile.
Source excerpt
Facebook has filed a lawsuit in California against a data analytics company it claims has illegally accessed user data.
New Jersey-based OneAnalytics allegedly paid app developers to install a malicious software development kit (SDK) in their apps. This was designed to harvest information including name, gender, email and username of users logging in to the apps with their Facebook credentials, the social network claimed.
The firm is said to have done the same to Twitter and Google users.
2019
Stackla sues Facebook over access to public data
Lawsuit filed
In 2019, Stackla filed a lawsuit against Facebook. According to the filing, Stackla claimed that Facebook's decision to block Stackla's access to public data on Facebook and Instagram was unfairly killing Stackla's business. The dispute centered on access to public data on the two platforms. The source report characterized the suit as alleging that Facebook was trying to crush Stackla's business.
2019
Facebook faces criticism over Federalist Society gala sponsorship
Public backlash
Facebook faced criticism for sponsoring the Federalist Society's annual gala dinner, where Brett Kavanaugh was scheduled to be the keynote speaker. Demand Justice called on supporters to urge Facebook to stop funding the event, and protesters demonstrated at the dinner.
Company response
Clarification — Facebook
Stone said “purposely” focusing on its support for one organization would serve to “distract from our lengthy track record of supporting groups from across the political spectrum”.
Source excerpt
Stone said “purposely” focusing on its support for one organization would serve to “distract from our lengthy track record of supporting groups from across the political spectrum”.
Facebook is facing criticism for sponsoring the annual gala dinner of the Federalist Society, the powerful rightwing legal group behind the nomination of the conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The event drew protests on Thursday evening, including a large video screen playing the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford, the California psychologist who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
2019
Quinnipiac student sues Facebook over post removals
Lawsuit filed
A law student at Quinnipiac University sued Facebook after the platform removed posts that named the White House whistleblower. The lawsuit claims that Facebook violated the student's First Amendment rights and asserts that the company's process for removing posts is opaque.
Company response
Apology — Facebook
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused," he added.
Source excerpt
Now, with his finances in the hands of the New York judiciary, he announced the lawsuit under the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech.
He sued Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc. (owner of Google and YouTube) because they banned him from using their platforms after he incited the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he filed class-action lawsuits against tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google — along with their CEOs, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai — because of bans imposed on him and others.
2019
Facebook defends its political-ad policy in UK controversy
Company response
Facebook stated that an edited video shared by the UK Conservative Party would not violate its rules if it were run as a paid political ad. The company also defended its policy of exempting ads from political parties and candidates from its fact-checking rules. The article additionally reports criticism of this policy. The event was reported on November 8, 2019.
Stated objective. To reduce the amount of political content users see
Company response
Clarification — Facebook
During a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on the company’s commitment to ramping down political content on the platform
Source excerpt
In addition to clamping down on recommended political groups, Zuckerberg also confirmed on Wednesday that the company is also brainstorming ways to reduce the amount of political content that users see in their News Feeds on a daily basis.
During a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on the company’s commitment to ramping down political content on the platform in the wake of an attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6
2019
Facebook discloses partner access to group member information
Issue disclosure
Facebook disclosed that some apps had retained access to group member information longer than intended. The company stated that it had removed the access of those apps and would ask partners to delete retained data and conduct audits to confirm deletion. Facebook also said it had seen no evidence of abuse.
2019
Facebook sues OnlineNIC over cybersquatting domains
Lawsuit filed
Facebook filed a lawsuit against domain name registrar OnlineNIC and its privacy/proxy service ID Shield, alleging that they registered addresses made to appear affiliated with Facebook. Facebook sought a permanent injunction and damages. The dispute concerned cybersquatting domains, according to the reported event.
Company response
Denial — Namecheap
Facebook may be willing to tread all over their customers’ privacy on their own platform, and in this case it appears they want other companies to do it for them, with their own customers.
Source excerpt
Facebook filed a lawsuit this week against Namecheap, one of the biggest domain name registrars on the internet.
The social networking giant claims that Namecheap has refused to cooperate in an investigation into a series of malicious domains that have been registered through its service and which impersonated the Facebook brand.
Apparently notices were sent by Facebook to Namecheap over the last two years and the company "declined to cooperate," so legal action has now been taken.
2019
Facebook sued over alleged discrimination in financial-services ads
Lawsuit filed
Facebook was sued in San Francisco federal court over allegations that its tailored financial-services advertising discriminated against older and female users. The suit alleges that Facebook helped financial-services companies target users based on age and gender. Facebook said it was reviewing the complaint and stated that its policies prohibit discrimination.
Company response
Investigation — Facebook
The social media giant said itâs reviewing the complaint.
Clarification — Facebook
Our policies have long prohibited discrimination and weâre proud of the strides weâre making in this area.
Denial — NSO
Source excerpt
Facebook was sued over claims that tailored advertising for financial services on the social media network discriminates against its older and female users who might be interested in products such as mortgages, personal loans and insurance.
The social media giant said itâs reviewing the complaint.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in San Francisco federal court, alleges Facebook helped financial services companies target users based on age and gender, resulting in younger people and men getting a disproportionate number of services and opportunities.
2019
Facebook agrees to pay compensation over Cambridge Analytica data leak
Settlement
Facebook agreed to pay £500,000 in compensation in connection with the Cambridge Analytica data leak. The article also reports that Facebook had admitted that user information was improperly obtained in 2016.
Company response
Apology — Zoom
We sincerely apologize for the concern this has caused, and remain firmly committed to the protection of our users’ privacy.
Remediation — Zoom
Our customers' privacy is incredibly important to us, and therefore we decided to remove the Facebook SDK in our iOS client and have reconfigured the feature so that users will still be able to log in with Facebook via their browser.
Remediation — Facebook
We are focused on protecting people’s privacy,” the company said, adding that it had made changes that restricted “the information which App developers can access.
Source excerpt
Facebook终于承认2016年美国总统大选时,通过违规获取5000万用户信息帮助特朗普赢得总统大选。
就“剑桥分析”数据泄露一事,Facebook答应支付50万英镑(约合64.3万美元)用做赔偿金。
New Jersey-based oneAudience paid software makers to install “malicious” software in their apps in order to “improperly” collect data about people at Facebook and other social media sites, Facebook said.
2019
Facebook sues NSO Group over alleged WhatsApp user hacking
Lawsuit filed
Facebook filed a lawsuit against NSO Group, alleging that NSO was involved in hacking WhatsApp users. According to the complaint, accounts were used to send malicious code to targeted devices in April and May 2019. WhatsApp said it warned the 1,400 affected users. The allegations are drawn from Facebook's complaint and WhatsApp's statement; the summary does not include further details on the outcome of the litigation.
Company response
Ongoing disclosure — WhatsApp
WhatsApp said the company sent a warning note to all the affected 1,400 users impacted by this attack, directly informing them about what happened.
Source excerpt
Pegasus allows access to an incredible amount of data from victims' smartphones remotely, including their text messages, emails, WhatsApp chats, contact details, calls records, location, microphone, and camera.
Facebook has also named NSO Group's parent company 'Q Cyber Technologies' as a second defendant in the case.
The flaw (CVE-2019-3568) successfully allowed attackers to silently install the spyware app on targeted phones by merely placing a WhatsApp video call with specially crafted requests, even when the call was not answered.
2019
Hungary watchdog fines Facebook Ireland over claims its services were free
Fine or penalty
Hungary's competition authority fined Facebook Ireland, finding that it breached the law with advertisements on its front page and help centre that claimed its services were free.
Source excerpt
Competition authority found Facebook breached law by claiming its services were free
The watchdog said Facebook Ireland had breached the law with adverts posted on its front page and help centre.
匈牙利竞争管理局表示,Facebook通过声称使用其服务是免费宣来误导匈牙利用户使用。
2019
Facebook sues ILikeAd over alleged ad fraud
Lawsuit filed
Facebook sued ILikeAd Media International, alleging that it used celebrity-bait links and deceptive ads to install malware and take over users’ advertising accounts. Facebook sought damages and an order barring the company from doing business on Facebook. The article also says Facebook had notified hundreds of thousands of users that their account information may have been exposed.
Company response
Refund or compensation — Facebook
它还向那些账户被ILikeAd用来经营未经授权广告的客户发放了超过400万美元的退款。
Source excerpt
Facebook周四起诉了一家香港公司,声称该公司诱使人们点击名人的照片和虚假的广告链接,从而安装恶意软件,并为假冒商品、减肥药和男士性功能增强剂做广告。
Facebook表示,这使得被告能够劫持用户的广告账户,即所谓的"账户接管欺诈",从而违反了Facebook的服务条款和广告政策。
Facebook在申诉中提出了尚未详细说明的损失赔偿请求,以及要求禁止该公司在Facebook上的业务。