Facebook Brazil to pay woman $1,500 over fake profile

A Brazilian court said Wednesday it ordered Facebook to pay a woman user $1,500 in moral damages for failing to promptly remove a fake profile containing her name and personal data. In a statement sent to AFP, the Federal District court in Brasilia said Facebook Brazil had to pay reparation "for moral damage caused by the improper use of (the woman's) image". The fake page on the social networking site, according to the plaintiff, contained her pictures and personal data posted by third parties. "I reported this but Facebook did not remove the page. I did all that they asked me to, I sent proof of my identity and fiscal number, but they only removed my profile after I took legal action," Nadya Pereira Justino told the GI news portal. Facebook Brazil argued that it was not the administrator of the social network's website and that the request for removal of the fake page should have been made through Facebook.com. But the court ruled that the Brazilian unit was responsible for "damage caused by the firm of the same group based abroad." In August, an electoral judge in the southern state of Santa Catarina ordered a 24-hour suspension of Facebook in Brazil for failing to remove a page which attacked a town council member seeking re-election in polls next month. Facebook eventually reached a deal with the court to escape punishment or a daily $25,000 fine in the case of non-compliance.