COMPLAINT
In the Matter of Facebook, Inc.
May 5, 2010
1
Before the
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, DC
In the Matter of
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Facebook, Inc.
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____________________________________)
Complaint, Request for Investigation, Injunction, and Other Relief
I. Introduction
1.
This complaint concerns material changes to privacy settings made by Facebook, the
largest social network service in the United States, that adversely impact the users of
the service. Facebook now discloses personal information to the public that Facebook
users previously restricted. Facebook now discloses personal information to third
parties that Facebook users previously did not make available. These changes violate
user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook’s own
representations. These business practices are Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices,
subject to review by the Federal Trade Commission (the “Commission”) under
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
2.
The following business practices are unfair and deceptive under Section 5 of the
Federal Trade Commission Act: Facebook disclosed users’ personal information to
Microsoft, Yelp, and Pandora without first obtaining users’ consent; Facebook
disclosed users’ information—including details concerning employment history,
education, location, hometown, film preferences, music preferences, and reading
preferences—to which users previously restricted access; and Facebook disclosed
information to the public even when users elect to make that information available to
friends only.”
3.
These business practices impact more than 115 million users of the social networking
site who fall within the jurisdiction of the United States Federal Trade Commission.1
1 Facebook, Statistics, http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics (last visited May 5, 2010); see also Inside
Facebook, Eric Eldon, Web Measurement Firms Show Higher Faceboo