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I just caught Facebook giving Likes from the unwilling.

9 points by FamousWarrior ↗ HN
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.

16 comments

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webvet
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.

SkyMarshal
Change your password.
jaredsohn
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-... and people in the comments described a similar issue.

AznHisoka
Maybe you accidentally clicked on something in the internet, and that led to you liking it.
PeterisP
If so, then it's just as slimy as buying/selling likes, and anyone involved should be named, shamed and 'unliked'.
Gnewt
Slippery slope fallacy.
eastatx
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.