The new Facebook policy on scams is BS
12th March 2009 - Following my blog posts (here and here) on Facebook allowing scams and cons to be advertise on their website I have just received an email from Facebook, it seems they have added to their policy on advertising on their site in order to to rid themselves of all the scams.
I don’t see why they need new rules, the old rules quite clearly prohibited the advertising of scams, but at least they are doing something about it. Unfortunately I can still see several scams advertising there, but I suppose FB need a chance to implement their new policies.
Anyway, here is the new policy:
Advertisements for Subscription Services must comply with the conditions noted below and as determined by Facebook in its sole discretion. “Subscription Services” may include sites that promote downloading ringtones, wallpaper, or text messages for predictions, love life advice, news, personality quizzes, or other entertainment services, or any site that induces a user to sign up for recurring billing of a product or service.
Subscription Services conditions:
1. The promoted website must clearly and accurately display the price and billing interval (such as per week or once per month) on the landing page as well as any page that prompts a user for personal information (including, but not limited to, name, email address or phone number) or billing information (including, but not limited to, mobile phone number or credit card number).
2. If users sign up to your service by transmitting a code by text message, the price and billing interval must be clearly and prominently displayed beside the code.
3. If your service is a subscription, you must provide a prominent opt-in checkbox or other clear mechanism indicating that the user knowingly accepts the price and subscription service. This should be on the first page the user enters personal data, and the user should not be able to proceed without opting in.
4. All of the foregoing items should be located in a prominent place on your webpage, as determined by Facebook in its sole discretion, and should be easy to find, read, and understand.
Update - 5th March 2009 - While a lot less frequent that they were a month ago, these same fraudulent adverts and scams still persist on Facebook, for example jeremymadecash.com (Google Kit scam) and jasongetsrich.com (Google Kit scam) are advertising there today, as are www.areyouagenius.org (Acai Berry scam) and www.getmeasixpack.com (another Acai Bery scam) and some new kids on the block, www.homemadeenergy.org and earth4energy.com
