Adscend Media wil pay $100,000 in court fees; it settled a second lawsuit with Facebook last week on undisclosed terms The Washington State Attorney General’s office reached a settlement on Monday with an advertising company it alleged baited and spammed Facebook users with salacious content in order to direct them to unrelated advertising.Adscend Media, an affiliate marketing company, and managers Jeremy Bash and Fehzan Ali agreed not to spam Facebook users and pay US$100,000 in court and attorney fees, according to the settlement. As part of the deal, reached in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Adscend Media did not admit liability. It must put in place a monitoring program to ensure it does not violate the settlement and closely watch the earnings of its affiliates. Company officials could not be immediately reached for comment. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe The attorney general’s office alleged in January that Adscend Media’s spamming generated up to $20 million a year. Facebook also filed a separate lawsuit against Adscend Media at that time; that suit was settled last week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Court documents did not provide detail on the settlement.The attorney general’s lawsuit alleged violations of the CAN-SPAM Act and two Washington state laws banning obscuring the source of an e-mail and prohibiting unfair or deceptive business practices. Adscend Media was accused of a couple of different scams. In one, it was accused of taking advantage of a browser vulnerability that could make Facebook’s “Like” Button not visible. The button was overlayed with photos or other “provocative” content in order to trick a user into clicking “Like.”The supposed content did not exist, and the user was funneled to advertising services from which Adscend Media received referral fees, the lawsuit alleged. Users were also asked to divulge personal information, it was alleged.Adscend was also accused of clickjacking, a method in which a link is automatically clicked without user intervention, resulting in content involuntarily posted to a user’s news feed.Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com Related content opinion The changing face of cybersecurity threats in 2023 Cybersecurity has always been a cat-and-mouse game, but the mice keep getting bigger and are becoming increasingly harder to hunt. By Dipti Parmar Sep 29, 2023 8 mins Cybercrime Security brandpost Should finance organizations bank on Generative AI? Finance and banking organizations are looking at generative AI to support employees and customers across a range of text and numerically-based use cases. By Jay Limbasiya, Global AI, Analytics, & Data Management Business Development, Unstructured Data Solutions, Dell Technologies Sep 29, 2023 5 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Embrace the Generative AI revolution: a guide to integrating Generative AI into your operations The CTO of SAP shares his experiences and learnings to provide actionable insights on navigating the GenAI revolution. By Juergen Mueller Sep 29, 2023 4 mins Artificial Intelligence feature 10 most in-demand generative AI skills Gen AI is booming, and companies are scrambling to fill skills gaps by hiring freelancers to make the most of the technology. These are the 10 most sought-after generative AI skills on the market right now. By Sarah K. White Sep 29, 2023 8 mins Hiring Generative AI IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe