Facebook is partnering with Washington state to combat a type of spam called “clickjacking” that is plaguing the social networking site, company and state officials announced Thursday.
Two separate lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California and Washington state against Delaware-based Adscend Media LLC, which officials say is behind the spamming. “The way we think about it, security is an arms race,” Facebook’s general counsel, Ted Ullyot, said alongside Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna at the social media company’s Seattle offices. “It’s important to stay ahead of spammers and scammers.” In “clickjacking,” links on Facebook promising shocking or salacious videos have code embedded in them that spreads the link to the user’s page. That makes it seem like the user “liked” the link, with the aim of attracting more clicks from the user’s friends. The links eventually lead users to a survey or information from an advertiser. Adscend Media is spreading spam through misleading and deceptive tactics and has encouraged others to do the same, McKenna’s office said.
