engine - 1:20 pm on Aug 9, 2010 (gmt 0)

US FDA Asserts Authority Over Social Media and Metatdata [readwriteweb.com]

The Food and Drug Administration ordered the first enforcement action against a pharmaceutical company for its use of Facebook a month ago, directing drugmaker Novartis to remove a "Facebook Share" widget on the website for its leukemia drug Tasigna. The widget was encouraging people to share content that misrepresented the drug, the FDA said in its letter, which it publicized last week. The letter also mentioned the "Share This" tool, which the agency said raises similar issues about other social media sites. But the offending text in the Facebook Share widget was drawn from the source's metadata, content that is written for search engines and usually does not appear on a web page.