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Anger as Facebook restricts ad services: Facebook File March 8

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

March 8, 2011 | 3 min read

New anger as Facebook flexes its muscles over who is allowed to provide ads. Google is out for a start

Google and Amazon apparently refused to agree to Facebook's new terms of service for ad providers, forbidding them from receiving, directly or indirectly, any type of Facebook user data, even if a Facebook user consents to sharing it. Should any such data end up in an ad provider's stores, the provider is required to alert Facebook immediately and purge said data. Developers are angry that they're no longer permitted to use AdSense and Amazon. Anatoly Lubarsky wrote on the Facebook Developers forum, "I hope you don't expect us to put our money into small startups from the approved list" . Some larger companies on the list "have a very bad track record,"he added. "It downgrades the user experience from Amazon and Google AdSense ads to have badly designed intrusive ads from 'approved' companies," he wrote. Other commentators observed that forcing developers to switch to unreliable ad providers could have undesirable long-term ramifications on quality.

FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE

* Facebook has partnered with the Samaritans so that depressed and suicidal people in the UK and Ireland can be helped by their friends .The life-saving link appears on Facebook’s main Help Centre page: How do I help someone who has posted suicidal content on the site?

Catherine Johnstone, CEO of Samaritans said , “Through the popularity of Facebook, we are harnessing the power of friendship so people can get help. As a friend you are better placed to know whether someone close to you is struggling to cope or even feeling suicidal.”

Richard Allan, Director of Policy for Europe at Facebook, said, “We’re pleased to welcome the expertise of a great partner in Samaritans. They will help to make our robust reporting system even more effective. Friends are encouraged to look out for one another on Facebook as they do in the real world. "
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