For anyone who either saw a wall post or received a message suggesting that Facebook may have changed  their advertising policies to allow third-party advertisers use your posted pictures, please note that it is completely false!

The Social Media Behemoth says it never made any such policy changes, categorically stating how it handles, and has handled privacy-related issues, not to mention security- Facebook Prohibits ads that cause a bad user experience, are misleading, or otherwise “violate our policies”.

Apparently the “rumours” were started due to advertisements placed by third-party applications. According to Facebook;

…. Those ads violated our policies by misusing profile photos, and we already required the removal of those deceptive ads from third-party applications before this rumor began spreading.

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So how Exactly does Facebook use your Photos?

In a bid to further clarify issues, Facebook’s Barry Schnitt tells us;

We’ve run advertisements from our own advertising system for more than a year that let your friends know if you have a direct connection with a product or service, in the same way that your friends learn through your News Feed if you’re connected with another friend or an organization’s Facebook Page. For example, if one of your friends becomes a fan of a Page, you may see an ad, like the one below, with your friend’s profile photo that indicates the action that friend has taken.

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I love a conspiracy theory as much as the next fellow, but one must always stick to the facts.
If you ever see the following message, or anything remotely close, I would suggest you ignore it.

FACEBOOK has agreed to let 3rd party advertisers use your posted pictures WITHOUT your permission. Click on SETTINGS up at the top where you see the Log out link. Select PRIVACY. Then select NEWSFEEDS and WALL. Next select the tab that reads FACEBOOK ADS. There is a drop down box, select NO ONE. Then SAVE your changes. REPOST to let your friends know!

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