5 ms·

I just caught Facebook giving Likes from the unwilling.

9 points by FamousWarrior 13y ago

I live in Midland, Texas and there is this guy running for Mayor, his name is Jerry Morales. I guess he bought some ads or Likes on Facebook, because next thing i know, a friend tells me that I Liked his page, when in fact i never did. I don't even agree or like the guy myself. I don't know if he was aware that his purchase would do this or not. I think is very, very slimy for Facebook to inflate the numbers with people who never approved in the first place.

SkyMarshal 13y ago
Change your password.
- jaredsohn 13y ago
  Exactly; the OP was likely phished and the people who did this are making money by having these accounts like on their behalf. I remember seeing in my feed that many of my liberal friends had "liked" Romney prior to the 2012 election. I saw this article come out around that time: http://thecentristword.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/mitt-romney-starts-buying-hundreds-of-thousands-of-facebook-likes-and-twitter-followers/ http://thecentristword.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/mitt-romney-... and people in the comments described a similar issue.
  - FamousWarrior 13y ago
    Wow, thank you for this!
webvet 13y ago
After you found out about this, did you find his page in your Likes list? If you did, could it have been that you somehow - inadvertently - clicked Like on his page/ad? If your answers are yes and no respectively, I'd say this is profound indeed!!
- Nicholas_C 13y ago
  Or Facebook could just be saying that certain people liked things without putting it in their list of likes. I first had a suspicion that Facebook was doing this when my feed said that several of my friends had like a Mormon based page when I know that none of them are Mormon would have no reason for liking the page. It could have been that they mistakenly liked it I suppose.
calbear81 13y ago
You can't buy "Likes" on Facebook, you can buy ads that prompt people to "Like" your page but you can't buy them outright. There are some cases where you can't really tell whether you're Liking a friend's "Like" or if you're also Liking what your friend Liked. I'm sure it confuses a lot of people since this whole phantom Like issue has come up frequently and reported by a lot of folks.
- FamousWarrior 13y ago
  Apparently you can because i saw her newsfeed and it said that I Liked his page when i never had been to his page before.
  - calbear81 13y ago
    You can like from within your feed without visiting their page. I think this is what happens a lot (misclick or deception) within the in-feed ads.
    - FamousWarrior 13y ago
      You misunderstand. I never, in the history of ever, clicked Like on any political candidate's page, much less a guy i disagree and dislike.
      - Terretta 13y ago
        They're not saying you ever went to a candidates page. They're saying there was an ad in your own newsfeed you didn't know was an ad. Either a story you liked, or something one of your friends "posted" that you liked, but wasn't really a post, was an ad.
AznHisoka 13y ago
Maybe you accidentally clicked on something in the internet, and that led to you liking it.
- PeterisP 13y ago
  If so, then it's just as slimy as buying/selling likes, and anyone involved should be named, shamed and 'unliked'.
Gnewt 13y ago
Slippery slope fallacy.
dubfan 13y ago
There was an article on a similar phenomenon, which I swear made it to the front page here but I can't find the discussion: http://readwrite.com/2012/12/11/why-are-dead-people-liking-stuff-on-facebook http://readwrite.com/2012/12/11/why-are-dead-people-liking-s...
eastatx 13y ago
I have a feeling the OP has a bot/toolbar on their machine and using that, 3rd parties will be able to simulate a like on their behalf. Take a look at what software you have installed and you may discover the issue.
henriquea 13y ago
This is why once a while I just go here to check my activity https://www.facebook.com/{{USER}}/allactivity?privacy_source=activity_log&log_filter=likes https://www.facebook.com/{{USER}}/allactivity?privacy_source...

9 points by FamousWarrior 13y ago

SkyMarshal 13y ago

Change your password.

jaredsohn 13y ago
Exactly; the OP was likely phished and the people who did this are making money by having these accounts like on their behalf. I remember seeing in my feed that many of my liberal friends had "liked" Romney prior to the 2012 election. I saw this article come out around that time: http://thecentristword.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/mitt-romney-starts-buying-hundreds-of-thousands-of-facebook-likes-and-twitter-followers/ http://thecentristword.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/mitt-romney-... and people in the comments described a similar issue.
- FamousWarrior 13y ago
  Wow, thank you for this!

webvet 13y ago

After you found out about this, did you find his page in your Likes list? If you did, could it have been that you somehow - inadvertently - clicked Like on his page/ad? If your answers are yes and no respectively, I'd say this is profound indeed!!

Nicholas_C 13y ago
Or Facebook could just be saying that certain people liked things without putting it in their list of likes. I first had a suspicion that Facebook was doing this when my feed said that several of my friends had like a Mormon based page when I know that none of them are Mormon would have no reason for liking the page. It could have been that they mistakenly liked it I suppose.

calbear81 13y ago

You can't buy "Likes" on Facebook, you can buy ads that prompt people to "Like" your page but you can't buy them outright. There are some cases where you can't really tell whether you're Liking a friend's "Like" or if you're also Liking what your friend Liked. I'm sure it confuses a lot of people since this whole phantom Like issue has come up frequently and reported by a lot of folks.

FamousWarrior 13y ago
Apparently you can because i saw her newsfeed and it said that I Liked his page when i never had been to his page before.
- calbear81 13y ago
  You can like from within your feed without visiting their page. I think this is what happens a lot (misclick or deception) within the in-feed ads.
  - FamousWarrior 13y ago
    You misunderstand. I never, in the history of ever, clicked Like on any political candidate's page, much less a guy i disagree and dislike.
    - Terretta 13y ago
      They're not saying you ever went to a candidates page. They're saying there was an ad in your own newsfeed you didn't know was an ad. Either a story you liked, or something one of your friends "posted" that you liked, but wasn't really a post, was an ad.

AznHisoka 13y ago

Maybe you accidentally clicked on something in the internet, and that led to you liking it.

PeterisP 13y ago
If so, then it's just as slimy as buying/selling likes, and anyone involved should be named, shamed and 'unliked'.

Gnewt 13y ago

Slippery slope fallacy.

dubfan 13y ago

There was an article on a similar phenomenon, which I swear made it to the front page here but I can't find the discussion: http://readwrite.com/2012/12/11/why-are-dead-people-liking-stuff-on-facebook http://readwrite.com/2012/12/11/why-are-dead-people-liking-s...

eastatx 13y ago

I have a feeling the OP has a bot/toolbar on their machine and using that, 3rd parties will be able to simulate a like on their behalf. Take a look at what software you have installed and you may discover the issue.

henriquea 13y ago

This is why once a while I just go here to check my activity https://www.facebook.com/{{USER}}/allactivity?privacy_source=activity_log&log_filter=likes https://www.facebook.com/{{USER}}/allactivity?privacy_source...