Zynga

Facebook and Zynga have defeated class-action lawsuits accusing the companies of civil wiretapping allegations connected to advertising practices.

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals, in a joint opinion filed last week on the two lawsuits [PDF], ruled the advertising practices at issue did not involve wiretapping. The San Francisco-based appeals court, however, reinstated allegations that Facebook violated its terms of service for its users, which now number about 1.2 billion.

A US appeals court has dismissed federal wiretap claims against Facebook and Zynga in a civil lawsuit over disclosure of user information to advertisers.

In a separate ruling, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals also revived breach of contract claims under state law against Facebook over the information disclosures.

Zynga, the social gaming services company, is laying off 18 percent of its employees in an effort to reduce its cost structure.

CEO Mark Pincus announced the layoffs Monday in a note to employees posted on the company's blog. Zynga, as of the end of last year, had more than 3,000 full-time employees, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The hacker group that calls itself Anonymous posted a warning message to Zynga and Facebook today.

The message says it will take Facebook down on November 5 and release Zynga games to the public on that day for free if Zynga doesn't stop its alleged plans for massive layoffs and offshoring of jobs.

Zynga will launch its own social gaming platform and open it up to third-party game developers, the company announced on Thursday.

The maker of "Mafia Wars" and "FarmVille" will soon have its own website where people can sign up and play games with their friends. Today its games are played primarily on Facebook, Yahoo and a few other websites, as well as on smartphones.