Huge Problem For Monetization: Lawsuit Forces Facebook To Let You Opt Out Of Sponsored Story Ads

Facebook's business model just hit a massive stumbling block, as the social network is being forced to let users opt out of having their likenesses repurposed as endorsements in Sponsored Stories ads. The requirement of opt out controls comes as part of a settlement of a class action lawsuit where five Californians said they did not consent to having their names, faces, and activity used to promote companies who paid Facebook.?Fortunately for Facebook, it could have been even worse as it appears that these controls will work on an story-by-story basis, and won't allow users to opt out of all future Sponsored Stories. The news comes just days after?TechCrunch published data showing Sponsored Stories could be the answer to the big question mark of how Facebook will monetize mobile. Sponsored Stories mix naturally into the mobile and web news feeds, but now Facebook will be vulnerable to privacy activist campaigns to get masses of users to opt out of being included in the ad unit.

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