The social networking service Myspace was among the most popular web sites in the 2000s decade. It has faced criticism on a variety of fronts, including for a massive redesign of the site in 2012 which occurred after the majority of original users had abandoned the website, misuse of the platform for cyber-bullying and harassment, risks for users' privacy, and major data losses.
Accessibility and reliability Because most Myspace pages are designed by individuals with little HTML experience, a very large proportion of pages do not satisfy the criteria for valid HTML or CSS laid down by the W3C. Poorly formatted code can cause accessibility problems for those using software such as screen readers. The Myspace home page, as of May 20, 2009, failed HTML validation with around 101 errors (the number changes on sequential validations of the home page due to dynamic content), using the W3C's validator.
Furthermore, Myspace is set up so that anyone can customize the layout and colors of their profile page with virtually no restrictions, provided that the advertisements are not covered up by CSS or using other means. As Myspace users are usually not skilled web developers, this can cause further problems. Poorly constructed Myspace profiles could potentially freeze up web browsers due to malformed CSS coding, or as a result of users placing many high bandwidth objects such as videos, graphics, and Flash in their profiles (sometimes multiple videos and sound files are automatically played at the same time when a profile loads). While Myspace blocks potentially harmful code (such as JavaScript) from profiles, users have occasionally found ways to insert such code. PC World cited this as its main reason for naming Myspace as #1 in its list of twenty-five worst web sites ever.
Data loss The website has experienced three major data losses: the removal of users' fans in early 2013, the unannounced removal of user blogs and private messages and videos in June 2013, and the loss of all music uploaded before 2016, which occurred in late 2017 or early 2018 and was widely reported in March 2019. More than fifty million music tracks were lost. After users began reporting that music was unplayable, the MySpace developers initially said they were trying to repair the problem, but later acknowledged that it could not be fixed. It was speculated that the data had been deleted deliberately for economic reasons and made to appear accidental.The earliest discoverable user report of music tracks being unplayable dates back to December 9, 2017.
Security In October 2005, a flaw in MySpace's site design was exploited by "Samy" to create the first self-propagating cross-site scripting (XSS) worm. MSNBC has reported that "social-networking sites like Myspace are turning out to be hotbeds for spyware," and "infection rates are on the rise, in part thanks to the surging popularity of social-networking sites like MySpace.com." In addition to this, the customization of user pages currently allows the injection of certain HTML which can be crafted to form a phishing user profile, thus keeping the Myspace.com domain as the address. A 2006 study showed that there has been spam on bulletins that has been the result of phishing. Users find their Myspace homepage with bulletins they did not post, realizing later they had been phished. The bulletin consists of an advertisement that provides a link to a fake login screen, tricking people into typing in their Myspace e-mail and password.
Other security fears regarding profile content itself are also present. For example, the embedding of videos inherently allows all of the format's abilities and functions to be used on a page. A prime example of this surfaced in December 2006, when embedded QuickTime videos were found to contain hyperlinks to JavaScript files, which would execute simply when a user visited a 'phished' profile page, or in some cases, by viewing a user's 'about me' elsewhere on the site. Users who entered their login information into a fake login bar that appeared would also be 'phished,' and their accounts would be used to spam other members, thereby spreading the security issue.
Myspace's anti-phishing and anti-spam measures have also come under fire. In 2007 Myspace made changes such that external links on profiles would be redirected through the http://msplinks.com domain. For example, http://en.wikipedia.org would be changed to http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZW4ud2lraXBlZGlhLm9yZw==http(The new links are determined by Base64 encoding, as there are ways of decoding the link back into its original URL.) Myspace staffers would be able to disable potentially dangerous links. (The changed links only work if the HTTP referrer is a Myspace page; otherwise, the link will appear to be disabled.) This move has been criticized that it makes profile editing inconvenient and that it does nothing to deter spammers. In February 2008 Myspace changed the system such that users who click such links (except for whitelisted domains like Wikipedia and YouTube) will receive a warning that they will be leaving the domain. As of March 2008, this "feature" has been extended to blogs as well, although previous blog entries are unaffected unless the user updates them.
On January 26, 2008, over 567,000 private Myspace user pictures were downloaded from the site by using a bug published on YouTube and put on the Piratebay torrent site for download.
In 2010, the company was criticized, along with other social networks, for passing user personally identifiable profile information to advertisers when members clicked on ads.
Privacy settings MySpace has agreed to regular privacy check-ups for the next 20 years due to the fact it "misrepresented" the protection of those using the site and their personal information. The Federal Trade Commission wants to ensure sites truly protect their users and live up to stated standards. MySpace originally promised to not share users "identifiable information, or use such information in a way that was inconsistent with the purpose for which it was submitted, without first giving notice to users and receiving their permission."Federal Trade Commission, "MySpace Settles FTC Charges That It Misled Millions of Users About Sharing Personal Information with Advertisers" ,"Federal Trade Commission", May 8, 2012 Despite these promises, MySpace gave advertisers personal information from current users, including: age, gender, profile picture, and username. Consequently, advertisers were able to locate a user's MySpace profile from the Friend ID to gain access to personal information from one's profile, such as the user's full name. This became increasingly dangerous for users and their safety because it leaked private information to the public.
MySpace, in 2010, provided users the option of controlling their individual privacy settings on their profile. In hope of regaining users from Facebook, MySpace is now simplifying their privacy settings. "The change is part of MySpace's new public commitment to privacy."Van Grove, Jennifer , "MySpace Positions Itself as Facebook Alternative with New Privacy Settings", May 17, 2010 The new privacy settings will allow users to restrict who sees their profile by limiting the accessibility to friends only, or people 18 or older. "Some people may have a private gathering in someone's home - that doesn't mean they're inviting everyone who happens to be friends of friends who are invited," said, Jeremy Mishkin, a partner and Internet privacy expert at the law firm Montgomery McCracken in Philadelphia.Price, Brian, , "MySpace Issues Facebook Privacy Challenge, but Will It Win Users?", May 18, 2010 Third-party sites gaining access to user's personal private information has been a recurring theme amongst these social networks. Providing a safe social network with proper privacy settings, while also allowing users to be as social as they want, is the ideal system for all social media users.
Myspace party problems Myspace is often used as a venue for publicizing parties, sometimes with the host's knowledge and sometimes without. There have been some well-publicized incidents where Myspace parties have caused thousands of dollars damage to property, and even (in at least one case) loss of life. A party hosted by Corey Worthington, a sixteen-year-old boy from Narre Warren in Melbourne, Australia, and advertised on MySpace, attracted 500 people. Police cars were attacked, and the dog squad and a helicopter were called in. The incident received international coverage. (Worthington subsequently found work as a party promoter, and appeared on the Ten Network's Australian version of Big Brother.) The Sydney Morning Herald'''s online technology writer, Asher Moses, has noted that MySpace/Facebook parties are particularly prone to gatecrashing because news of events can spread to uninvited guests via "newsfeeds." He suspects some party hosts are oblivious to the actual number of people who get the message. In April 2007, a seventeen-year-old British girl hosted a party after distributing information about it on Myspace that was reportedly subtitled "Let's trash the average family-sized house disco party." Her parents were left with an approximately £24,000 ($48,000) bill from police. Allen Joplin, a seventeen-year-old American high school student from Seattle, was shot dead at a party that had been publicized through Myspace and attracted uninvited guests. A thirteen-year-old girl was injured in the same shooting.
Child safety The minimum age to register an account on Myspace was originally 18 before being lowered to 16, 14, and finally 13 over the course of the platform's history. However, sometime around 2023, the minimum age was changed back to 18.https://help.myspace.com/hc/en-us/articles/202736120-The-Minimum-Age-for-using-Myspacehttps://web.archive.org/web/20231204084159/https://help.myspace.com/hc/en-us/articles/202736120-The-Minimum-Age-for-using-Myspace
Myspace will delete fake profiles if the victim verifies their identity and points out the profile via e-mail. In July 2007, the company found and deleted 29,000 profiles belonging to registered sex offenders.
Beginning in late June 2006, Myspace users whose ages were set over 18 could no longer be able to add users whose ages were set from 13 to 15 years as friends unless they'd already known the user's full name or email address. Some third-party Internet safety companies such as Social Shield launched online communities for parents concerned about their child's safety on Myspace.
In June 2006, sixteen-year-old American Katherine Lester flew to the Middle East, to Tel Aviv, Israel, after having tricked her parents into getting her a passport in order to be with a twenty-year-old man she met through Myspace.'MySpace' Teen Returns From Middle East Foxnews.com U.S. officials in Jordan persuaded her to turn around and go home.
In October 2006, thirteen-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide after being the victim of cyber-bullying instigated by the mother of a friend who had posed as a sixteen-year-old named "Josh Evans".Steve Pokin (November 11, 2007). 'My Space' hoax ends with suicide of Dardenne Prairie teen Suburban Journals. Accessed May 18, 2008.
In December 2006, Myspace announced new measures to protect children from known sex offenders. Although precise details were not given, they said that "tools" would be implemented to prevent known sex offenders from the USA creating a Myspace profile.
In February 2007, a U.S. District Judge in Texas dismissed a case when a family sued MySpace for negligence, fraud, and misrepresentation; a girl in the family had been sexually assaulted by a man she met through MySpace, after she had misrepresented her age as 18 when she was 13. Regarding his dismissal of the case, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote: "If anyone had a duty to protect young girls, it was her parents, not MySpace."