Did FaceSniper Go Down?

pgc

10 years ago

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GlenH 10 years ago

I suspect it was found the functions it performed violated FB's TOS
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Robert X

10 years ago

YES! I have the same issue. Since hearing that you all are having the same problem and the site is totally gone, I'm running to Paypal before my 30 days is up. I have a few days left but I ain't waitin'. Great software. But I'm going to Social Lead Freak.

Robert C.

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Samrath Gupta

10 years ago

Did it received C&D?

It would be nice If @Landisama could give us some input.

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Dlewis78

10 years ago

I did receive a refund. So I'm assuming it is gone for good.

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Vikram73

10 years ago

What are some good alternatives? That sucks - bought it well over 30 days ago.

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cypherslock

10 years ago

*Sigh* folks, there are no shortcuts with this.

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DaveCProsser

10 years ago

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vrykyl 10 years ago

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- cjbwebs 10 years ago
  
  Terrible was I enjoying it.....
  
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Malteaser

10 years ago

Is Facesniper even legal? Just wondering since one scraps IDs and one can use them to add them to groups randomly - is that okay?

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GuerrillaIM

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Malteaser

Is Facesniper even legal? Just wondering since one scraps IDs and one can use them to add them to groups randomly - is that okay?

This is all done from within the Facebook API. You can request any information you like from it, such as users ID's that have liked a certain page. I am not sure why they would give this feature if you are not allowed to use it.

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James Campbell

10 years ago

Originally Posted by GuerrillaIM

This is all done from within the Facebook API. You can request any information you like from it, such as users ID's that have liked a certain page. I am not sure why they would give this feature if you are not allowed to use it.

The logic of "if they don't want you to use it then why would they have the option" doesn't apply to playing within the TOS. Using the API does not guarantee that all actions within the API will remain within the bounds of the TOS. What these scrapers did (and for the ones that haven't been shut down yet, do) violates the TOS while exploiting the API for purposes facebook did not intend for it to be used.

They all break the TOS in the following manner:
Facebook requires you to get permission from users to use their data to advertise to them through the use of the Custom Audience feature of the fb advertising platform. Additionally, within the TOS they specifically state that you are not to collect information in this way (scraping whether manually or automatically with these tools).

UIDs specifically are/were designed to be accessible to App creators for the purpose of communicating with the app users and for app advertisment features.

You're still able to use Custom Audiences and UIDs within your advertising however you must have permission to advertise to your target audience from that target audience through your data use policy and/or privacy policy on your website/group/fanpage, the UIDs must be collected in a fashion that is within the intended use of UIDs (aka using a facebook connect app/button to get subscribers works just fine and is compliant with the TOS).

All in all, if you know how to properly use FB as an advertising platform you will do much BETTER without using Custom Audiences in many regards, with the exception of some specific situations.

Hope that clears it up.

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GuerrillaIM 10 years ago

OK, so I just read over all the policy stuff.

If you could clarify one point for me I would be extremely grateful as I am just a code monkey, I haven't really looked into this policy before.

The crux seems to come from this:

Custom audiences allow advertisers to target their ads to a specific set of people with whom they have already established a relationship on/off Facebook

So if you grab someone else's fans then you obviously don't have a prior arrangement. I get that now.

However, Facebook offer the option in their control panel to target all of a pages fans. That's a feature of their advertising system already in place.

If you are using the API to create a list of recent fans are you still breaking the TOS?

Is there some sort of additional check you can do to be compliant?

What if you don't allow the list to be downloaded and make it automatically upload to Facebook?

Any help greatly appreciated. It seems to be a grey area.
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- James Campbell 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by GuerrillaIM
  
  However, Facebook offer the option in their control panel to target all of a pages fans. That's a feature of their advertising system already in place.
  
  Targetting all fans within their own advertising platform is not creating a custom audience, it is creating a specified interest audience in the eyes of FB and will keep you within the TOS.
  
  Any tool, or even manual scraping of UIDs for any reason will likely end with your account being suspended or banned. Though, if you have a proper privacy policy/data use policy in place, for example on your facebook page About section, or your FB group about/terms section, or your links on your optin pages outside of fb, then you would be able to prove to FB that you are staying within their terms and possibly get your account back.
  
  Truth is, this is very similar to the Adwords crap that happened years ago. If it even smells like it could be bad, there is a definite possibility that you'll lose your ability to advertise with FB and in some cases marketers have been losing their personal accounts AND are receiving legal letters informing them that FB is taking them to court for the violations.
  
  All in all, my best advice would be to use the FB Ad platform they have set-up without any of the "tricks", that is the only thing that will keep you "safe".
  
  If you are using the API to create a list of recent fans are you still breaking the TOS?
  
  Possibly in FB's eyes. It isn't something I would try. If you're using any sort of APP to create a list of recent fans, my guess is that you'd be walking a fine line in regards to what they deem acceptable. If that is an option they make available within their Ad Platform, then using it would be different, but a 3rd party developed app, I wouldn't touch it.
  
  Is there some sort of additional check you can do to be compliant?
  
  No there are no additional checks. Basically, stick to using the FB Ad Platform as they have it, be sure to not promote certain industries that violate their TOS and just do everything squeaky clean. If you have to justify why you are doing something, or have to in any way twist interpretation of the TOS to fit your strategy... you're probably not abiding by what FB wants you to do.
  
  What if you don't allow the list to be downloaded and make it automatically upload to Facebook?
  
  Still a violation as you don't have permission from those people to target those people specifically in the eyes of FB.
  
  Any help greatly appreciated. It seems to be a grey area.
  
  My pleasure. FB makes things about as clear as mud sometimes, though the whole scraping stuff has always been in the TOS, FB just never cracked down on it. Now they are and all hell is breaking loose for some marketers who relied on "tricks"/"gimmicks"/"loopholes" to build and sustain their business.
  
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GuerrillaIM

10 years ago

Can someone tell me what they did that broke the TOS? I have made something that creates user lists by a time filter of when they liked a page. Was thinking of releasing it for free but wont do that if it gets me blocked from developer program.

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GuerrillaIM

10 years ago

Thank you for the extremely well laid out response.

I wrote the code just to familiarize myself with their API. It seemed pretty white hat as it was just intended for better demographic targeting. I will shelve the code as I don't want a company the size of FB after me!

I guess I will focus on other parts of the API like posting ads and ROI triggers.

Thanks
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James Campbell

10 years ago

Originally Posted by GuerrillaIM

Thank you for the extremely well laid out response.

I wrote the code just to familiarize myself with their API. It seemed pretty white hat as it was just intended for better demographic targeting. I will shelve the code as I don't want a company the size of FB after me!

I guess I will focus on other parts of the API like posting ads and ROI triggers.

My pleasure brother. We're all in this together.

FB has come hard at some marketers both users of these scraping apps (w/ civil lawsuits) and more recently the vendors of these apps with cease & desist letters combined with account closures/bans including personal FB accounts.

Whatever you're working on, the idea of focusing on easy of posting ads and ROI trigger based changes, such as pauses in ads or auto budget increases (if that is possible) would be awesome