Facebook made its Android app crash to test user loyalty?

incepted wrote: post #3

Please either point directly to the article that claims to have uncovered this (which is behind a paywall) or don't post anything. Right now, there is zero evidence that any of this is real.

You can bypass the paywall by entering your email. Even in the full article they only mention a confidential source, which makes sense because even if it was real, it's very easy to cause a crash without leaving a trace in the app. For instance, the server might purposefully send a malformed response that causes the client to crash.

full article mirror: https://i.imgur.com/umOEvs7.jpg

Re: Facebook made its Android app crash to test user loyalty?

#7

Post by notatoad » Thu, Jan 07, 2016, 1:22 AM UTC

greenimpala wrote: post #5

And where is the reference / source of this claim?

linked in the article: https://www.theinformation.com/facebooks-android-contingency...

Re: Facebook made its Android app crash to test user loyalty?

#8

Post by iaw » Thu, Jan 07, 2016, 1:22 AM UTC

greenimpala wrote: post #5

And where is the reference / source of this claim?

The lede in the source seems to focus on contingency plans for Android Apps around the Google Play Store. I suspect something is being misunderstood by the linked author.

EDIT: User gruez posted an image of the article here https://i.imgur.com/umOEvs7.jpg. There is one line from a single unattributed source describing a "one-time experiment several years ago"

Re: Facebook made its Android app crash to test user loyalty?

#9

Post by iaw » Thu, Jan 07, 2016, 1:23 AM UTC

notatoad wrote: post #7

greenimpala wrote: post #5

And where is the reference / source of this claim?

linked in the article: https://www.theinformation.com/facebooks-android-contingency...

The lede in that story doesn't even mention intentional crashes, anything not behind a paywall?

Re: Facebook made its Android app crash to test user loyalty?

#10

Post by pvelagal » Thu, Jan 07, 2016, 1:42 AM UTC

Well, not sure if it is a coincidence. Facebook app on my iphone crashed several times a couple of days ago.