Facebook is working to fix a bug with its social plugins that at
times is increasing "Likes" to a page by two, the organization said in a
statement emailed to USA TODAY.
Word of this came after reports from WIRED
and other news organizations that that sending a private email via
Facebook with a link to a page would increase the number of "Likes to
that page.
Update at 10:25 p.m. ET
Facebook stresses
in its email to USA TODAY that the bug is taking place with social
plugins and "is not related to Facebook Page likes."
Social plugins allow oneto see what other Facebook users are "Liking" or what comments they're leaving.
"This
bug does not impact the user experience with messages or what appears
on their timelines," according to the Facebook statement. "Absolutely no
private information has been exposed and Facebook is not automatically
liking any Facebook pages on a user's behalf."
Original post:
users
looking to increase the number of "Likes" to their page can do so by
sending out private Facebook messages with links to the page, according
to reports in WIRED and other publications.
When a Facebook user does this, Facebook automatically adds two "Likes" to their page, WIRED reports.
The report also is an indication that Facebook is doing some mining of users' private messages, according to WIRED.
A
video that has since been removed from the Internet showed how a person
sending out links to their Facebook pages could potentially generate up
to 1,800 "Likes" an hour, The Wall Street Journal reports.
YouTube has taken down the video because it might violate its guidelines on depiction of harmful activities, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Adding to the revelation, the BBC reports that when a Facebook user leaves a comment on the Facebook page in question, that also inflates the number of "Likes."
Facebook
told the BBC that it is working to resolve the situation, which it
referred to as a "bug." Facebook pointed out that no user information is
exchanged with anyone and no one's privacy has been violated.
"We
did recently find a bug with our social plug-ins where at times the
count for the Share or Like goes up by two, and we are working to
resolve the issue now," the BBC quotes Facebook as saying.
USA Today