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Facebook Ads May Feature Underage Models

by Amar Toor on October 1, 2009 at 03:15 PM


We've all seen them, lurking on the sidelines of our Facebook's homepage like boys at a middle school dance. The ads usually feature some attractive creature with a blindingly white smile. The idea, of course, has its roots in the age old advertising technique of making us feel as if we may actually know someone this beautiful, reeling us in with implicit flattery. What happens, though, if the picture looks too familiar?

Forbes reports about one such advertisement for the people-finding site MyLife.com, with photos of alluringly-dressed women under the header "Is someone googling you?" Apparently, the actual women in the photos were never aware that their images were featured. Worse, they may have been underage.

MyLife's affiliate advertiser mined the photos from the questionable Web site Jailbaitgallery.com, whose sole purpose is to create a forum in which people can look at photos of barely dressed girls, and vote on how young they think they are (think being the operative word). The two scantily-clad girls who popped up on the Facebook ads were, according to expert estimates, 16-years-old.

MyLife head of marketing Dipik Rai told Forbes that the photos were "definitely not approved," and pointed out that it's hard to police every ad. Sometimes, for example, MyLife may screen and approve an advertisement from an affiliate advertiser only to see the affiliate change the ad to make it more salacious. Sites like MyLife rely on sites like Facebook to act as the final filter, flagging anything inappropriate.

Whether or not it's Facebook's or MyLife's fault, the fact is that gaps in security appear to be only growing as more and more people disseminate photos of themselves across the Web. But, thus far, there has only been speculation about the girls' real ages -- from a none-too-reliable source, at that. The larger issue is the subversive way in which MyLife (or their affiliates) appropriated private content for their own gain. It's certainly a worrisome trend, and, until we see some sort of overarching watchdog to guard against it, one that's likely not going anywhere anytime soon. [From: Forbes via Gawker]

Tags: ads, advertising, facebook, mylife, top

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