Facebook Sued Over Acquisition of Ferrari Fan Pages
Ferrari fan pages are at the center of a controversial lawsuit against Facebook.
According to a recent report, a Swiss father and his son are suing Facebook after the company gave up their fan pages that had millions of followers. The family is alleging that Facebook and the Italian automaker teamed up to illegally seize control of the fan pages. The lawsuit has been filed in California state court following legal action in Europe between Olivier and Sammy Wasem and Ferrari over the Wasem’s “Ferrari Fan Page” and a separate “Formula 1 Vision” fan page.
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The Wasems’ page originally debuted in June 2008 and according to the family, Ferrari had created its own page that wasn’t as popular. As a result, the Italian automaker asked Facebook to give it administrative control over the Wasems’ fan page. The Wasems’ then allege that in March 2009, Ferrari contacted them saying that “legal issues” had forced it to take over as administrators on their page. According to the complaint, the Wasems and Ferrari began to negotiate on a partnership to manage the fan page in addition to creating a Formula 1 page. In 2012, Facebook had notified the Wasems that they had been downgraded to content creators and last year, the company cut off access to the fan pages entirely.
The Wasems are seeking at least half the value of the two fan pages, which they say attracted over 16-million fans and could be worth anywhere from $174 to over $1,000 per fan from advertising.
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[Source: Automotive News]
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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This was a jerk move by Ferrari for sure.