Another viral Facebook hoax is duping users into thinking they can somehow disable one of the social network’s algorithms. The hoax claims to let users bypass a Facebook algorithm that supposedly limits the number of friends that can see their posts.
According to Lisa Vaas at Sophos the post claims that all you need to do is copy and paste the text into your own status. Vaas previously wrote about this hoax almost a year ago, pointing out that it is much more difficult to shut down over other viral social media hoaxes because users are posting individual statuses rather than just sharing one post. Facebook also confirmed around the same time last year that its algorithm doesn’t limit content from friends.
The continual hoax that so many people continue to fall for shows that a large portion of people are susceptible to basic online social engineering. This can also be seen in another form when employees of organizations fall for phishing scams, leaving themselves or possibly their company in danger of cyber attacks. Real attackers are likely to use more sophisticated methods than those used by Facebook hoaxers. To learn more about this hoax and how to help your friends from falling for it, visit here.
