Translations of Facebook’s new advertising page

Facebook now has a page describing their advertising. I’d not realised quite how underhand they are being with their advertising schemes.

It starts:

From the beginning, the people who built Facebook wanted it to be free for everyone. It now costs over a billion dollars a year to run Facebook, and delivering ads is how Facebook pays for this.

Translation: “we need to make money using you guys somehow, cheapskates”.

Facebook does not sell your personal information. Instead, Facebook makes its money from showing you ads.

Translations: “it’s much more profitable for us to charge many times for access to you than just once”.

Sponsored stories. One of the most insidious advertising ploys I’ve seen. Yes, even including those kids sponsored by Weetabix—at least they knew who they were advertising for:

A business pays Facebook to feature existing posts and activity that mention the business. Sponsored stories don’t include additional messaging from the sponsor. Like Facebook Ads, they’re only visible to friends you’ve already shared this information with.

Translation: “we can resell your work without telling you and you don’t make a dime”.

Oh, and:

there is no way to opt out of seeing all or being featured in any Sponsored Stories

Translation: “we’ve got you by the balls”.

Facebook ads. Facebook can feature your name and face next to adverts for companies.

A business creates an ad to promote its message. If you’ve liked that business’s page, the story about you liking the page (including your name or profile photo) may be paired with the ad your friends see.

Translation: “companies can pay us to lie to your friends about the products you’d endorse”.