How and why is Facebook controlling my background tabs?

#1

Post by d3mon » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 6:59 PM UTC

How and why is Facebook controlling my background tabs?
gifyu.com

Re: How and why is Facebook controlling my background tabs?

#2

Post by d3mon » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 6:59 PM UTC

The mobile facebook website does something quite creepy. After you click on a link that takes you to a new website in a new tab, if you click on another link from Facebook, it is somehow able to close the last opened tab and open a new one.

The usage model that facebook seems to be enforcing is that you read the article that you clicked on, and then come back to Facebook so that they can figure out how much time you spent there. You can't open multiple links in the background and read them at leisure.

They are able to close the background page even when you navigate to some other link from the opened tab! The URL has no special facebook specific crud. How are they able to close background tabs in Chrome like this?

Re: How and why is Facebook controlling my background tabs?

#3

Post by josephcsible » Sun, Sep 05, 2021, 8:18 PM UTC

d3mon wrote: post #2

The mobile facebook website does something quite creepy. After you click on a link that takes you to a new website in a new tab, if you click on another link from Facebook, it is somehow able to close the last opened tab and open a new one. The usage model that facebook seems to be enforcing is that you read the article that you clicked on, and then come back to Facebook so that they can figure out how much time you…

Isn't that just what happens when the target attribute is set to something other than _blank?

Re: How and why is Facebook controlling my background tabs?

#4

Post by d3mon » Mon, Sep 06, 2021, 4:20 AM UTC

josephcsible wrote: post #3

d3mon wrote: post #2

The mobile facebook website does something quite creepy. After you click on a link that takes you to a new website in a new tab, if you click on another link from Facebook, it is somehow able to close the last opened tab and open a new one. The usage model that facebook seems to be enforcing is that you read the article that you clicked on, and then come back to Facebook so that they can figure out how much time you…

Isn't that just what happens when the target attribute is set to something other than _blank?

Thanks, I'm not a web developer, so can you tell me if this allows a page to control the opened tabs in the background?