The Norwegian Consumers Council has warned Facebook about unsolicited marketing, demanding them to stop and threatening a lawsuit.
“It is prohibited to send electronic advertisements to consumers who haven’t given their consent, either by email or SMS,” consumer mediator Gry Nergaard told the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A letter to the European Commission requested an investigation into whether Facebook is still operating within the regulations of the electronic communication and privacy.
The outrage is caused by the spontaneous appearance of news stories on the Facebook users’ newsfeeds. Norwegian officials declared these are unwelcome electronic messages, beguilingly named ‘sponsored stories’.
The advertisements appear under false pretences of endorsement that the user’s friends support the promoted product or services, stated a spokesperson from the commission.
Facebook responded by claiming these marketing pop-ups can be blocked by users, confirming they are not infringing on any law.
Norway is determined to take the issue further. Meanwhile the disgruntled party is still awaiting the outcome of the EU’s final call.
“We take the privacy of your information very seriously. If Facebook receives an official request for account records, we first establish the legitimacy of the request,” Facebook’s privacy policy states.
The Facebook group adheres to the USA Stored Communications Act (SCA), 18 U.S.C. Sections 2701-2712, which says record revealing is legal within court orders. Facebook’s information pages gives account of the access to users’ information for legal and marketing purposes.
According to socialbakers’ survey, Norway has 276,0780 Facebook users. This count positions them as the 55th on the list of most Facebook-active countries.
