Lawsuit against ‘liked’ Facebook ads will proceed

THE SOCIAL NETWORK Facebook has failed to get a lawsuit against it dismissed, and can be sued by people that do not like its advertising practices.

A report at Bloomberg says that the people catalogue can be sued by users that object to the way that Facebook shows which of their friends have 'liked' an advertisement.

Judge Lucy Kow agreed that the practice violates California privacy laws that cover the non consensual use of people's details in advertising and rejected Facebook's claims otherwise.

"[The] plaintiffs have articulated a coherent theory of how they were economically injured by the misappropriation of their names, photographs and likeness," she wrote in her ruling.

Judge Koh's decision meas that plaintiffs may pursue claims that the company's sponsored ads violate state law and are fraudulent, however the report ads that she did dismiss a claim that it is "unjustly enriching" itself through its sponsored advertising.

We have asked Facebook to comment on the decision. The case is Fraley v. Facebook. µ