Spammers Ordered to Pay Facebook - Judgment of $873 Million

2008-11-25 17:20:49 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - News, Technology)

Wired PR News.com — A Canadian man has been ordered to pay popular social networking website, Facebook, $873 million after being found to have spammed the site with sexually explicit material. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the order was issued on Friday, however payment to the site, whose revenue for the year is expected to be an estimated one-third of the judgment, may take time to be collected due to defendant Adam Guerbez reportedly being difficult to locate.

Guerbez was accused of manipulating Facebook users who handed over their passwords and usernames, and were later bombarded with millions of explicit drug and sex related messages.

Facebook is hoping that the large verdict will ward off potential future spammers who might try to reach the 120 million people who use the site. Max Kelly of the California based company released a statement saying “Everyone who participates constructively in Facebook should feel confident that we are fighting hard to protect you against spam and other online nuisances.”