Facebook ‘stalkers’ beware! There is currently a Facebook glitch that could potentially lead to some very awkward situations indeed.
We all like to have a little “nose around” now and again on the Facebook profiles of people we don’t know – or might like to get to know. And how embarrassing would it be if that little snoop resulted in a friend request being automatically sent to the person you were snooping at?
Yet that’s exactly what is happening on Facebook right now. In this case, the chain warnings you may have seen on Facebook are largely correct – if you merely visit someone’s Facebook profile, the Facebook mobile app is sending an automatic friend request to that person. Ouch!
From what we’ve been able to glean so far, this bizarre glitch is happening on the Facebook mobile app versions on both Android and Apple, so if you’re using the Facebook desktop site (i.e. the website, not the app) you should be okay.
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We also know that the glitch is presently affecting different countries, with users in Europe, the UK, Australia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka complaining.
It’s certainly a glitch that will likely result in some awkward and embarrassing exchanges, as well as many users rushing to cancel friend requests they may have inadvertently sent out when having a sneaky stalk.
There are privacy and security ramifications as well, since the glitch is likely to result in connecting a significant number of Facebook users together who simply don’t know each other.
Facebook users have predictably taken to Facebook and other platforms to warn others of the ramifications of lurking!
Oliver Cragg from Android Authority took a video of the glitch in action…
The best course of action is to avoid going onto the profiles of people you don’t know while on the Facebook mobile app until this all blows over, else face the prospect of having your Facebook “stalking” ingloriously unveiled to the receiving party.
Meta – the parent company of Facebook – is yet to acknowledge the issue. We’ll keep this article up-to-date with developments.
UPDATE: Meta acknowledges and apologized for the glitch, blaming a routine app update. The glitch has now been resolved.
