Facebook, Zynga Face Class Action Suit Over Offer-based Ads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 23, 2009 - 11:35am.

Sacramento, Calif. - A class action suit has been filed against Facebook and social network gaming firm Zynga, over "offer-based" advertisements that allegedly resulted in users being billed for unwanted services, Valleywag reported.

Such ads see users asked to complete an online survey in exchange for free virtual items in a game, for instance, but small print terms also sign them up for paid subscription services.

The lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages.

Recent media coverage of the practice of offer-based ads within social network games and applications has led to crackdowns by MySpace and Facebook, as well as changes to the way Zynga said it would do business.

For its part, "Mafia Wars" developer Zynga now claims 100 million unique monthly players of its games.

The company announced last week that it raised $15.1 million in new financing.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/te6tu (Valleywag)

http://snipurl.com/te6u0 (PaidContent)

http://snipurl.com/te6tm (complaint via Valleywag

http://www.zynga.com