--- title: 'Identity theft, counterfeiting and online piracy: the issues Facebook is grappling with' url: 'https://argobs.com/en/furto-didentita-contraffazione-e-pirateria-online-le-criticita-con-cui-facebook-sta-facendo-i-conti' markdown: 'https://argobs.com/en/furto-didentita-contraffazione-e-pirateria-online-le-criticita-con-cui-facebook-sta-facendo-i-conti.md' lang: en date: '2018-04-03' description: 'The Cambridge Analytica case, which broke at the beginning of March, has led international public opinion to question the role and influence of Facebook in contemporary digital society. The recent scandal led to the resignation of the top management of Cambridge Analytica and has put enormous press…' taxonomy: category: - contraffazione - pirateria --- # Identity theft, counterfeiting and online piracy: the issues Facebook is grappling with 3 April 2018 | Counterfeiting, Piracy The Cambridge Analytica case, which broke at the beginning of March, has led international public opinion to question the role and influence of Facebook in contemporary digital society. The recent scandal led to the resignation of the top management of Cambridge Analytica and has put enormous pressure on both Facebook's head of security, Alex Stamos, and the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The gravity of the consequences for Facebook, however, is not yet clear, and in the coming months the platform will remain at the center of a media storm that places it in the dock, accused of failing to adequately protect its users' data. In addition, by 25 May 2018 the platform will have to ensure high standards of privacy protection for its users in line with the requirements of the **GDPR**. Beyond the terms-of-service violations committed by companies such as Cambridge Analytica concerning the collection, management and non-transparent commercialization of data, other illegal conduct is carried out on the social network by some users that can cause considerable harm to individuals and businesses. In particular, the phenomena covered in this article are identity theft, the sale of counterfeit products and online piracy. **Identity theft** This is a phenomenon that affects both individuals and businesses. It is not uncommon for users browsing the social network to come across a profile displaying their own images and, in many cases, their own name. In these cases, in addition to promptly reporting it to the platform, it is possible to file a complaint with the Postal Police (Polizia Postale, Italy’s cybercrime unit) in order to have the perpetrators prosecuted. As for businesses, it is common for some users to register profiles and pages similar to the official ones, citing famous brands. The operators of the unlawful pages usually aim to sell counterfeit products or to increase the visibility of their own posts. **Sale of counterfeit products:** On Facebook there are numerous groups and pages that operate as veritable fake-goods supermarkets, selling many counterfeit products of the most popular brands. The opening of the “Marketplace” platform within Facebook has given many users greater visibility for selling their products. Many counterfeiters have taken advantage of this new channel to put their items up for sale, and there are a great many listings containing keywords such as “imitation”, “parallel”, etc., aimed at making fake products easy to identify. When buying on Facebook, consumers will therefore need to pay close attention to the products being sold and be wary of prices that are too low or suspicious discounts. It is also to be hoped that the platform itself will begin to implement new control mechanisms to limit the phenomenon. For trademark owners, one form of protection is the ability to report this unlawful content directly to Facebook by filling in the dedicated online form. The platform's response times are usually quick and violations are removed within a few days. **Unlawful distribution of copyright-protected content** There are numerous groups where external links and live streams that illegally reproduce sporting events, films and copyright-protected content are posted every day. Some groups hosting this content are very successful and have thousands of followers. Here too, Facebook has started some activities to counter the phenomenon, above all thanks to its acquisition in 2017 of the company Source3, with the aim of automatically identifying copyright-protected content. As with counterfeiting, copyright holders can themselves report unlawful content that has escaped the platform's controls. In conclusion, despite the efforts made by Mark Zuckerberg's company, many gray areas remain on the social network, exploited by counterfeiters and bad-faith users to carry out illegal conduct. At this stage, achieving a greater degree of legality will require the joint effort of rights holders, users and Facebook itself. --- ## Navigation - Parent: [News](https://argobs.com/en/news.md) - Previous: [What is Pinduoduo – the Chinese app challenging Taobao](https://argobs.com/en/pinduouo-app-cinese-che-sfida-taobao.md) - Next: [Tmall Beauty Awards: the Chinese giant targets top luxury brands](https://argobs.com/en/tmall-luxury-week-il-gigante-cinese-mira-ai-top-brand-del-lusso.md)