Facebook fixes bug that sent friend requests to every profile users viewed – Times of India

Facebook has fixed a bug that automatically sent unintended friend requests to all those whose profiles users visited. People took to Twitter to report the glitch and sparked privacy-related discussions on the platform.
According to a report by Android Authority, when users visit someone’s profile, they automatically send a friend request to that person without the user having to click any button or tap anywhere on the screen. This issue, which is seen as a case of compromised user privacy and control, gained attention on social media.
What Facebook has to say
Facebook quickly fixed the bug and the services were back to normal.
“We fixed a bug related to a recent app update that caused some Facebook friend requests to be sent mistakenly. We’ve stopped this from happening and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused,” the company reportedly said in a statement.
Malicious ads on Facebook
Recently, Facebook became a hot spot for scammers. Reportedly, the verified Facebook pages were hacked and their page name and Facebook URL were changed.
“Some of these pages had millions of followers. Each displays a blue verification badge that says ‘Facebook confirmed this profile is authentic’,” a report by Mashable noted.
These fake/ hacked pages with millions of followers were running ads, which were malicious in nature. The ads directed users to click a fake Google or Facebook URL where they are brought to a bogus Google Sites page impersonating the company.
Celebrity pages targeted
According to the report, scammers renamed the page which were related to celebrities. For example, a Facebook page, “Fans of Miss Pooja”, which was created in 2012, was renamed to “Google AI.”
A Meta spokesperson said that the company invests significant resources into detecting and preventing scams and hacks.
“While many of the improvements we’ve made are difficult to see – because they minimise people from having issues in the first place – scammers are always trying to get around our security measures. We regularly improve our methods for combating these scams and have built teams dedicated to improving the support we can offer to people and businesses,” the company was quoted as saying.