Deciphering New Facebook Promotion Guidelines

Posted by Natalie Sulimani

December 1, 2009

As you may have heard, Facebook changed their guidelines regarding promotions on their site which has caused a lot of people to change their marketing strategies. We strongly encourage you to review the guidelines as written on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php), but I hope this summary will be a good starting point:

FACEBOOK CONTEST PROMOTION SUMMARY

Anyone that publicizes and/or administers any kind of promotion where there is a prize and winner as a result of chance or skill (“the promoter”) is subject to the Promotions Guidelines of Facebook. Publicizing a promotion means promoting, advertising or referencing a promotion in any way on Facebook or the Facebook Platform. Administering a promotion on Facebook means operating any element of the promotion on Facebook or using any part of the Facebook Platform. This may include, for example, collecting submissions or entries, conducting the drawing, judging winning entries, or notifying winners.

General Rules: The promoter is responsible for making sure that the promotion is in compliance with any and all regulations that govern the promotion (federal, state and local laws, and any applicable regulatory rules and regulations). The promoter is fully responsible and liable for any promotions on Facebook or any Facebook platforms, regardless of the fact that Facebook has authorized those promotions. The promoter must get express written consent from Facebook to use any of its intellectual property (copyrights, trademarks, etc.) in any material relating to the promotion. The promoter must be completely accurate and cannot mislead or deceive the public in any way about the prizes or any other aspect of the promotion.

Prohibitions: There are some limits regarding what the Promoter can promote and offer as prizes, as well as restrictions on eligibility. Promotions can neither be used to promote nor offer as prizes in whole or in part any of the following:
Alcohol;
Tobacco;
Dairy;
Firearms; and/or
Prescription drugs.

In addition to these categories, Promoters must not promote gambling or gasoline through the use of these contest promotions.

The following categories of individuals may NOT be eligible in any promotion:
Anyone under 18 years old;
Anyone residing in a country embargoed by the United States; and
Anyone residing in Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India.

Beyond these prohibitions, entry into any sweepstakes promotion on Facebook must not require purchase of any product, the completion of a lengthy task (not defined in the Facebook rules), or anything else that could be seen as a valuable benefit to the Promoter. However, this prohibition will come as a result of being in compliance with the law anyway.

Administering Promotions: Promotions may not be administered directly through Facebook but may be administered through the Facebook Platform. To do this, the Promoter must first get written approval from an account representative at Facebook. The Promoter should either contact the account representative that he/she may have previously used or, if this is the first time contacting a Facebook account rep., there is a form at this link, http://www.facebook.com/business/contact.php, that should be used to initiate contact with Facebook and wait for a response from an account representative.
The Promoter must designate a primary contact for this and all subsequent contact with Facebook.

Once the Promoter receives the required approval from Facebook, the Promoter agrees to the following guidelines:
The Promoter will only administer the promotion through an Facebook Platform as directed by Facebook; and
The Promoter will only allow users to enter the promotion through a canvas page on the Facebook Platform or through an application box in a tab on the Facebook page.

Please take not of the following language that must be included in the following circumstances:
Adjacent to any promotion entry field in a clear and conspicuous manner, the Promoter must state: “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to [recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for [disclose any way that you plan to use the user's information].”
The Promoter must not mention “Facebook” in the promotion’s rules except in the following ways: (i) “You can enter the Promotion through the [application name] application on the Facebook Platform. You can also find the application on the [tab name] tab on the [Page name] Page on Facebook.”; (ii) to fulfill your obligations to acknowledge that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

This last bit is, in fact, required, that is to say that the Promoter must post in the Official Rules for the promotion that it is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. Also in the rules, the Promoter must include language that authorizes a complete release for Facebook from each entrant or participant. The Promoter must also state that all questions, comments and communications regarding the promotion must be directed to the Promoter and not Facebook.

Publicizing a Promotion: If a Promoter is administering a promotion completely offsite from Facebook, then no prior written approval is needed for any publicity of that promotion. However, any violation of any of the rules in these Facebook Guidelines can subject the Promoter to removal of any and all material posted on Facebook regarding the promotion or even the disabling of the Promoter’s Facebook page and/or account.

If a Promoter publicizes the promotion in any way on Facebook, the following guidelines must be followed:
The Promoter will not directly or indirectly indicate that Facebook is a sponsor or administrator of the promotion or mention Facebook in any way in the rules or materials relating to the promotion, except as outlined above;
In the rules of the promotion, or otherwise, you will not condition entry to the promotion upon taking any action on Facebook, for example, updating a status, posting on a profile or Page, or uploading a photo.
Indemnification: The Promoter shall indemnify and hold Facebook harmless for any and all damages, losses or other expenses in any claim related to the promotion. Basically, Facebook can’t be named in any suit brought against the Promoter because of any promotion.
Facebook Rights: Facebook has reserved several rights in relation to these rules. The first thing to be aware of is that the promotion is governed by whatever version is current at the time of the promotion, so it is important that Promoters check to make sure that they are aware of the latest version of the promotion contest guidelines, as well as all other guidelines, rules and regulations governing usage of Facebook.
So for example, if the Promoter has a promotion that was approved and posted prior to these rules, then the current rules apply and the promotion must be brought into compliance with any changes that have since taken effect.
Facebook reserves the right to change its rules and guidelines at any time and in its own discretion. Facebook also reserves the right, regardless of whether a promotion was approved, to remove any and all materials relating to a promotion at any time where Facebook determines the continued marketing or administration of such promotion may be unlawful under applicable laws, rules, regulations or guidelines or may cause unreasonable liability for us.
Finally, Facebook makes the Promoter aware that compliance with the Facebook Guidelines does not mean that the Promoter is in compliance with all necessary laws and regulations. Also, where any of the rules in the promotion guidelines contradicts other policy listed on Facebook, for the purpose of the promotion, the wording in the promotion guidelines shall control.
Examples: Facebook has provided several helpful examples to explain these concepts at the bottom of the page at their website, http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php. This is also where the full and actual wording of these rules can be found.

As with any contest promotion, consultation with legal counsel is recommended to make sure that the Promoter is in compliance with all necessary laws, rules and regulations that apply to that promotion, including the rules set out by Facebook.