Belated Hats-off To Facebook

Having left this site alone for so long, there was a lot that happened that never made it into our news. Looking back, we'd made a post about MySpace clamping down on bogus health and beauty products, false or misleading advertising, etc. FaceBook also made a commitment to do the same. Their rules and regulations have changed over time to prevent advertisers from misleading customers in general.

If you use FaceBook, you probably already know this. They have a function integrated into their ad system to allow users to report ads that they don't like, so if you are ticked off by a bogus ad, you get sent to a strange page after clicking an ad, or you have tried a product and you know the claims are fake, you can report the ad by hitting the X in the corner. FaceBook does monitor ads and each has to be approved by a human being in order to run, but this is another level of keeping advertisers honest, and keeping user irritation down. If users complain about an ad, it will removed from being shown to them again and may be flagged for review.

Last year, there were a massive number of advertisers that were perma-banned from running on FaceBook. It seems that FB watched them commit TOS (Terms-of-service) violations for a while, seemingly unconcerned, and then suddenly banned them all. The violations were often committed by advertisers that used misleading advertising techniques to promote ringtone subscriptions, work-from-home scams, unaccredited internet-based colleges, and... you guessed it, products touting completely unsubstantiated claims!

FB now has more stringent rules on advertising practices and even what can be promoted (If you are interested here is a link to their advertising policies). Their prohibited content list now includes "uncertified pharmaceutical products" and it is required that a product must clearly disclose its' terms.

So across the board, FB has responded to bad business policies with its updated terms. Hats off to you FaceBook!

Can diet scams still be found on FaceBook? The answer is...kindof?
Here's what I've found: You may see ads like "Lose Weight Using this 1 Simple Tip" or "Lose Weight by Avoiding these common foods" or "Lose Weight by eating this one weird food". These ads usually lead to some sort of build-up where a medically unqualified former fat person (just like you or me) drones on for 25 minutes about how its' so much better to be thin than fat, while never giving away what the simple tip, common food, or weird food might be. Then curiosity will compel you to buy the e-book or subscribe to a mailing list for information that is basically common knowledge. If you subscribe to the mailing list, you will undoubtedly be contacted for several diet-related offers via email and your address may even be given or sold to other advertisers. I think people usually feel stupid for falling for this, so they tend not to complain about it too much. I mark these ads as misleading because I know their game, they annoy me, and I'd rather see ads for something else.

Within FB, if the community complains about a type of ad, even if there is nothing overtly wrong with the product, FB will eventually update its' advertising terms disallowing that type of advertisement. So basically, you vote with your click.