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Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

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Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#151
post #31

Slightly related peeve: if you enable 2FA on Facebook they will never expire any existing browser cookie or mobile app token. Thus whoever gets their hands on your desktop or a device, even months into the future, will bypass 2FA.

That's not true, you have the ability in settings to see all old sessions and revoke device approvals. It's pretty easy to clear out your old machines.

If you remember and know where to look.

Google eventually asked if I wanted to remove a phone I'd stopped using 2 years ago the other day.

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#152
I just remembered that I got an "password reset" email from facebook like a month ago?

I didn't log in to my FB account since 2008 or so.

For a minute I was baffled and thought someone might be trying to hack my defunct profile (but why?) and my instinctive reaction was to log in and reset the password but gave up and forgot about it.

But now that people keep mentioning shady "come back, come back, to Mordor we'll take you" tactics, this sure smells fishy.

Anyone else got an unsolicited PW reset email after not using FB for a long time?

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#153

The social media behemoth has seen a decline in traffic in recent weeks along with millions of users leaving its platform [...] Two years ago I said that Facebook will be dead by 2020 [1] and that line made me check the current situation, we are right on track and linear extrapolation still hits zero in mid 2020 [2]. As mentioned in the original thread, don't get fooled by the normalized numbers, the search traffic f…

Are you sure about that?

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook...

and

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook...

Those graphs suggest that while the trajectory is bad on this graph, any other site doesn't come close.

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#154
Seriously! It always drove me nuts that they sent emails when you didn't check your facebook regularly too. I used to get so many damn emails. "This person shared this." "This person liked this" etc and I didn't give a shit that's why I didn't check Facebook in the first place. So why the hell would I want a message about it? This is so much worse. I'm not checking facebook why the hell would I want a text about it?

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#155
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of events/organizations that organize almost exclusively through Facebook. Unfortunately, there effectively no other free platforms with a critical mass of sign ups big enough to be used in that way.

Of course there is Meetup which is certainly large enough for everything except the most niche event.

Meetup is one of the spamiest products ever

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#156
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I realize that the proper solution is to terminate my account and never attempt to log back in.... but I've had my account since 2006 and despite the company's terrible practices, I'm really not interested in disconnecting for good at this time Well, that's the real problem, isn't it? If users aren't punishing Facebook by leaving the platform in droves, then what incentive does Facebook have to stop its consistentl…

> then what incentive does Facebook have to stop its consistently user-hostile business practices Once upon a time in the USA, and in some nations today, there was/is regulation in the public interest. Why not try it in the USA?

You aren't required to use Facebook. You can, in less than one second, stop using it.

It isn't electricity, roads, water. It's freakin' Facebook.

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#157

Finally, somewhere I can appropriately vent about this. About TWO years ago I was constantly annoyed by the 'secure your account: add your phone number here' banner frequently displayed at the top of the page upon loading FB, so I input my number to make it disappear for good. (Also, they kept hiding the 'x' (close) icon in different spots, making the banner difficult to dismiss.) A few days later I got a text messag…

That thing facebook does with demanding your phone number, that's my favorite dark pattern. Apple does the same thing with iOS upgrades.

First you pose a seemingly innocent question, like 'would you like to give us your phone number so we can keep your account secure?' or 'would you like to upgrade to new iOS?'. Then you take away the NO option. You replace it with 'i'll decide later'. And by doing so, you make it not a choice for the user. You make it a statistical guarantee that sooner or later, most users will cave in and hit yes, even if by accident. iOS is an extreme example of this - when you say you don't want to upgrade, you are immediately prompted with a pin code request as if your device just locked itself, and your reflex is to punch in the pin to unlock it again. But if you read what it says at the bottom, it's asking for your pin to get permission to schedule the upgrade that you just said no to.

Whoever the designers are who came up with this stuff, fuck them. This shit is going to be in ethics textbooks in a decade or two. I hope someone from the facebook UX team is reading this, I hope they know their day job is to make the world a worse place.

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#158

Unbelievable. When signing up for 2FA, FB never said what else it would be used for. From a legal standpoint, aren’t companies are supposed to say what the phone number will be used for when asking for phone number? Somebody from FB - please tell us this is a bug.

"aren’t companies are supposed to say what the phone number will be used for when asking for phone number"

Not yet. Can't wait for the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR) to come in effect, which includes such a requirement - it won't affect USA users directly, but hopefully it will force some companies to change their behaviour worldwide.

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#159
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I realize that the proper solution is to terminate my account and never attempt to log back in.... but I've had my account since 2006 and despite the company's terrible practices, I'm really not interested in disconnecting for good at this time Well, that's the real problem, isn't it? If users aren't punishing Facebook by leaving the platform in droves, then what incentive does Facebook have to stop its consistentl…

"...Well, that's the real problem, isn't it? If users aren't punishing Facebook by leaving the platform in droves, then what incentive does Facebook have to stop its consistently user-hostile business practices?..." And the reason they're not leaving and don't want to leave? Where else are you going to connect up with old friends and remote family members? I said it when Facebook started growing like gangbusters. Fac…

> Where else are you going to connect up with old friends and remote family members?

Wait, are you really suggesting that Facebook is the only way to keep in touch with old friends and remote family?

Re: Facebook spamming users via their 2FA phone numbers

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course there is Meetup which is certainly large enough for everything except the most niche event.

Meetup is one of the spamiest products ever

Never seen spam in Meetup. I hooked up my personal calendar with Meetup and it added quite a bit of events into my calendar which was a bit spammy but it's only because I had told Meetup I was interested in all that stuff and it was easy to shut off and filter out.

WeWork bought Meetup recently so I don't know if any of that will change now.

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