Facebook to let advertisers use your posts in Sponsored Stories

Can't stop gushing about your favorite new gadget or your latest album purchase? If you're posting about it on Facebook, there's a chance your words could wind up used by advertisers without your knowledge. Facebook has begun allowing companies to re-post endorsements from users as "Sponsored Stories," and there's no way for you to opt out at the moment.

It's not all bad, though. Sponsored Stories retain the same privacy settings that applied to your original post. That means if you only allow friends to see it, they're the only people who will see the Sponsored Story in Facebook's sidebar. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (we see what they did there) isn't happy about this, telling the Associated Press that the ads are "subtle and misleading" and that users should object to companies trying to profit from their "name or likeness without[...]consent."

There's a good chance you already did consent, of course, by agreeing to Facebook's terms of use. But hey, they backpedaled on something like this before -- remember the woman whose husband saw her face used in a "find singles near you" ad? There's a very good chance Facebook will allow users to opt out, especially with the inevitable storm of discontent which is already a-brewin'.

Facebook to let advertisers use your posts in Sponsored Stories originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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