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Jerk.com accused of misusing Facebook data

Social networking site Jerk.com has been charged by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of misusing Facebook users information to create profiles for millions of people, including children from 2009 to 2013.

Zee Media Bureau
Washington: Social networking site Jerk.com has been charged by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of misusing Facebook users information to create profiles for millions of people, including children from 2009 to 2013. The Federal Trade Commission which filed charges against the website Monday alleges that the profiles, which were supposedly created by users of the Jerk.com site, labelled people a "Jerk" or "Not a Jerk," said the report. The FTC said that the site falsely claimed that people would be provided with the option to edit their profiles if they paid a membership fee of 30 dollars. The director of the FTC`s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Jessica Rich, said that in today`s interconnected world, people are especially concerned about their reputation online, and this deceptive scheme was a brazen attempt to exploit those concerns. The FTC is now seeking a court order that would bar the Jerk.com owners and its operator, John Fanning, from continuing to use the personal data they had gathered from Facebook as well as delete the information it already has. With Agency Inputs