Facebook hit with lawsuit over fake “Like” ads

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Anthony Ditirro has filed a lawsuit against Facebook because he claims it “Liked” USA Today for him.

Ditirro, who lives in Colorado, is seeking $750,000 dollars from Facebook. He filed the class action complaint in San Jose, Califor after his friends brought to his attention the fact that he “Liked” a food section of USA Today. He claims he didn’t “Like” the page.

“Although PLAINTIFF has nothing negative to say about USA TODAY newspapers, PLAINTIFF is not an avid reader of USA TODAY, nor does PLAINTIFF endorse the newspaper,” it says in the complaint.

In the lawsuit it claims that liking something without a user’s permission is a violation of state and federal laws that concern publicity as well as privacy rights. Ditirro is able to seek the high dollar amount because of a law in California that lets someone ask for $750,000 if an image of them has been used without their consent.

This is just the newest lawsuit Facebook is up against concerning the advertising tactics they use. Recently they have been hit with another lawsuit that alleges that they read private messages and there is also another case in which Facebook decided to settle and pay 20 million because of their now infamous sponsored stories.

So far Facebook has not released a comment on this particular lawsuit.

[via GigaOM, image via Sean MacEntee’s flickr]

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