News19,135 Articles

November 23, 2009

Facebook launches legal action against uSocial

Marketing firm is 'illegally accessing site'

Carrie-Ann Skinner

Facebook has launched legal action against uSocial - an Australian marketing firm that sells 'fans' and 'friends' on the social network.

In a letter to uSocial, Facebook said the company was breaking several laws including illegally accessing the site.

However uSocial, which announced in September this year that it was planning to sell friends on the social network, claimed it was doing nothing wrong.

"We have been dealing with Facebook regarding this matter and we have removed our friend-buying service, though we're not budging on selling fans," said uSocial CEO Leon Hill.

We are well within our legal right to do so and despite the C&D, we're not taking the service down."

This is not the first-time uSocial has angered social media sites. In August, Micro-blogging site Twitter tried to shut down uSocial for selling 'followers'.

However, despite Facebook's issue with the company, uSocial said it would continue its service.

"We're actually not too worried by this and we'll be ramping up our Facebook services in the coming weeks," said Hill.

"We'll shortly be launching a similar service with Facebook groups, though we will have to wait and see what the response is from that."

Broadband speed test

See also: uSocial to sell Twitter followers

<<newer story | back to index | older story>>

What is this?

Subscribe to PC Advisor now and claim your FREE gift

Keep up to date by adding PC Advisor News to your iGoogle home page or Google Reader


Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

% of PC Advisor readers agree with you

Yes
TBC
No
TBC

What tasks can your smartphone do that would have traditionally been done on a laptop?

119 characters remaining

Follow the conversation at @SmartphoneFocus

web browsing, search facilities, voip, email, word processing everything RT @Graham_D_C

Mainly email but getting better at spreadsheets etc, RT @IDGdan
Google


Recent reviews

Reviews index


Latest reader comments

Latest reader comments


Top news

News index


Latest blog entries

Blogs index


 Our RSS feeds

Sponsored Content

  • Take the internet to new places with the Nokia N800
    Communicate how you want to, where you want to with instant messaging, email and internet calling. View movies, browse the internet wirelessly and watch TV on the high-resolution screen and listen through high-quality stereo speakers with headphone jack.
    Buy now