MySpace admits to sharing user information with advertisers
The second-largest American social network, MySpace, has admitted that it shares data with third-party advertisers that could be used to identify profile pages, but it doesn’t consider this to be an issue.
On Friday, a Wall Street Journal investigation found that MySpace transmits users’ information when they click on advertisements, which it had previously promised to stop doing in May. The social network later released a statement indicating that it didn’t believe this was a problem, as it doesn’t require users to publish any personal information on their profile pages, reports MSNBC.
The Wall Street Journal also found that some third-party applications on the social network shared user IDs, which is against MySpace’s terms of service. The social network suspended the reported application developers, though they were reinstated hours later after they adjusted their programs to comply with MySpace regulations.
With MySpace struggling to retain its existing user base, the privacy breaches are likely to turn even more consumers away from the social site. Earlier this year, Nielsen reported that while MySpace was still the second most popular social network in the U.S., other sites, such as Twitter, are poised to overtake it.
