Facebook closes user's ad account for seeking Google+ friends

GlobalPost

Facebook has come under fire from some sections of cyberspace for taking down a user's advertisement seeking friends on Facebook's newest competitor, Google+.

While technically the ad may have breached the terms of use, the move proved that Mark Zuckerberg's social media behemoth is feeling a little threatened by Google's new alternative, the International Business Times website said.

Web developer Michael Lee Johnson said Facebook suspended all of his advertising campaigns after he posted an ad asking people to follow his Google+ profile.

"LOL: I recently ran a Google+ advertisement on Facebook that got all of my campaigns suspended. - Great," he wrote on Google+.

"P.S; Facebook - You Suck."

Chris Matyszczyk at CNet news said "ejecting all of Johnson's campaigns seems a touch cruel," while Dan Gillmore of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship posted a tweet calling it "pathetic."

Comments to TechCrunch condemned Zuckerberg as a "coward" and urged Facebook to "grow up."

Others however said Facebook was entitled to enforce its terms of use.

"That's business. Go hand out flyers for your homemade popcorn at a movie theater and see how they react," wrote Robbie Burns.

(More from GlobalPost: Google posts record quarterly earnings)

Johnson posted what he said was Facebook's explanation for disabling his account, which concluded: "Unfortunately we cannot provide you with the specific violations that have been deemed abusive. Please review our Terms of Use and Advertising guidelines if you have any further questions."

As reported on GlobalPost, Google last week announced record quarterly earnings and excited investors with news that Google+ had attracted more than 10 million users in its first two weeks of public trials.

Facebook claims to have more than 750 million active users.

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