Almost 65,000 Russians are labeled as traitors by Facebook ‘s advertising tools. The labeling has raised issues regarding targeting their users on the website. This was already a much-criticized topic about the same tool inferring information about users’ race, sexuality, and political views despite data protection legislation requiring explicit consent to hold such information. Facebook has justified this action by explaining the process was aimed only to identify historical treason. Even though Facebook does not give the details of its users to external parties advertisers can easily uncover them through careful use of the company’s public-access tools.

Officially internet usage is not restricted in Russia and the tools which Facebook have given the Russian authorities could make the governmental agencies’ work a little more easy to track the potential traitors. In a statement, Facebook while explaining the functioning of Facebook advertisements said that the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, had raised a number of important questions about the way Facebook’s advertising systems work. The company highlighted that its prime aim is to ensure people see ads that are relevant and useful. It’s beneficial for the users as well as the advertisers. When the company identifies any foul play in their ads products, they always take action. Depending on the violation, they remove the ad, suspend the ad account or even report the advertiser to law enforcement. The news comes a day after Facebook was discovered to have given privileged access to its site to mail service Mail.Ru, a Russian site with links to the Kremlin. This issue was highlighted in the media.

Algorithmically determining users’ interests is a key aspect of Facebook’s advertising platform. It allows advertisers on the site to target users more accurately than they could by using simple demographic measures. But, while Facebook offers users heavy controls over what it does with the information they provide, such as uploaded photos and status updates, it offers much less control over information it has inferred about them. Users can manually remove individual interests on a settings page, but cannot opt out of the profiling altogether, nor prevent interests being inferred on a category-by-category basis. Now Facebook will be into more trouble regarding the privacy of its users.