By Olga Kharif and Brian Womack - Nov 16, 2011 8:00 AM GMT+0700
Facebook Inc. has identified those responsible for the recent deluge of hardcore porn and violent images in some users’ newsfeeds, and said it is working with its legal team “to ensure appropriate consequences follow.”
The social networking company made the statement after porn, pictures of extreme violence and faked photos of celebrities such as Justin Bieber in sexual situations had overrun the profiles of some Facebook users.
Had Facebook not quickly stanched the inundation, the company ran the risk of losing some of its more than 800 million active users, said security researcher Sophos Ltd., based in Abingdon, U.K.
“Facebook needs to get this under control, because the content is so offensive,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. “Some people may quit Facebook.”
Earlier today, Facebook said it had “drastically limited the damage caused” by a spam attack that took advantage of a browser vulnerability.
“Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us,” Palo Alto, California-based Facebook said in a statement.
Users were tricked into pasting malware into their browsers, which in turn resulted in the sharing of offensive content, Facebook said.
“We’ve built enforcement mechanisms to quickly shut down the malicious Pages and accounts that attempt to exploit it,” Facebook said.
Facebook users lamented the images on microblogging service Twitter Inc.
“Has anyone been on Facebook lately?” tweeted Jay Ciroc, who identifies himself as a recording artist living in New Jersey. “My newsfeed looks like a porn site.”
Some Twitter users said they’ll quit Facebook as a result.
To contact the reporters on this story: Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net; Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
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