How your ex will KNOW if you’ve been stalking their Facebook: Embarrassing glitch exposes snoopers – how to tell if you’ve been caught
- ‘Profile snoopers’ have been caught red-handed over an embarrassing glitch
- Facebook apologized for the issue and told affected users that it has been resolved
It is common practice for many of us to browse the Facebook profiles of people we are not friends with.
But so-called “profile snopers” have been caught red-handed after an embarrassing technical glitch on the social network.
The bug sent automatic friend requests to every profile people viewed, meaning users rushed to cancel them as soon as possible.
Facebook has apologized for the issue and urged users to review pending friend requests in their activity log.
Facebook acknowledged the issue and urged users to review friend requests in their activity log
So Facebook now automatically sends a friend request when you see someone’s profile¿. We did the test with random people and if you check your sent friend request, they will appear there¿ #Facebook pic.twitter.com/vN7r8T1uw8
— ¿MONTSE (Taylors version) (@beachybones) May 12, 2023
A spokesperson for Meta, the company headed by Mark Zuckerberg that runs Facebook, explained the issue The everyday beast.
“We’ve fixed a bug related to a recent app update that caused some Facebook friend requests to be sent inadvertently,” the spokesperson said.
“We prevented this and apologize for any inconvenience.”
An user posted a short video of the glitch in action, where the friend request is made automatically just a second after the user lands on their profile.
Other affected users took to Twitter and TikTok to describe their horror at making friends with people they barely know, with one calling it “the end of stalking.”
Another said “it’s the ‘wrong night to browse and stalk my yearbook’.”
Yet another posted, “Imagine you stalked your ex or your enemy and they received a friend request.”
Some users said on social media that unwanted friend requests have since disappeared.
But if you’re still worried that you’ve been affected by the technical glitch, visit facebook.com/friends.
From here, click “Friend Requests” in the tab on the left, followed by “View Send Requests” to view the pending requests.
The bug sent automatic friend requests to every profile people viewed, meaning users rushed to cancel them ASAP
Other affected users took to Twitter and TikTok to describe their horror at making friends with people they barely know, with one calling it “the end of stalking.”
As any Facebook user knows, a carousel on your homepage called People You May Know shows people you are not friends with.
Facebook says, “People You May Know is a list of people you might want to befriend because you have things in common, such as a mutual friend, school, or work.
“We regularly update People You May Know to improve suggestions.”
The problem is that a lot of people who appear on People You May Know are usually people we’re just not interested in being friends with – often mutual friends we just don’t like.
