Facebook clamps down on stalker apps

 

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By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 16 Mar 2010 at 12:49

Facebook is clamping down on fake "stalker" apps, that purport to tell members who has been looking at their profile.

Apps such as ‘Stalker Check’, and ‘Who has visited my profile’ falsely lure visitors with the promise of identifying people who've been looking at their profile and photo albums. In fact, the apps have no way of collecting such information, and are simply used to generate ad revenue.

We would encourage all our users, if they’re having a bad experience with an app, to report it to us. We need our users to report these apps

Both these apps have since been removed, but they follow a recent trend of fake Facebook apps, some of which have been linked to malware.

Facebook has taken several steps to block fake apps, and recently stopped applications from sending notifications in an attempt to prevent fake apps from spamming users.

A Facebook spokeswoman told PC Pro that the social network doesn't tolerate fake apps, but defended the site’s model. “Our open-source system is what we believe is best for our users. Developers sign -up to our terms and conditions and if they break them then we remove the app,” she said, adding that there is no vetting system. “It’s more the Android model than the Apple model.”

The spokeswoman said the site has thousands of applications, and that it sees no reason to change the model for the “few apps that breach terms and conditions”.

“If an app is bad it fails, if it’s good it does well," the spokeswoman said. "The users choose to add apps to onto their profile.” Facebook urges users to report fake apps to the company.

When asked why Facebook allows fake app developers to advertise on the site, the spokeswoman claimed: “they get a set canvas of ad space and what they do with it is their choice. If they then breach our terms we remove it.”