FarmVille Maker Faces Federal Lawsuit
October 21, 2010
Zynga, the company behind the FarmVille app is facing some legal issues. A class action lawsuit has been filed against the San Francisco, California-based company.
According to CBS News:
The class action suit, filed in California, alleges that Zynga profited substantially from sharing users real names and other sensitive information to third party advertisers and internet marketing companies without user consent.
Facebook policy restricts third-party application developers, like Zynga, from engaging in this kind of activity stating that developers cannot "directly or indirectly transfer any data you receive from us to (or use such data in connection with) any ad network, ad exchange, data broker, or other advertising related toolset, even if a user consents to such transfer or use."FarmVille was released as an application on Facebook in June 2009. As of September, it has 62 million active users, according to Wikipedia. In June, Zynga released its free FarmVille app for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. It allows users to interact with their Facebook FarmVille account. Naturally, the lawsuit boils down to money. It seeks to prevent the company from engaging in such practices and also to "disgorge Zynga of all revenue earned from its social gaming applications," according to the CBS News report. Zynga has stated that the suit is without merit.