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Ask HN: Someone liked one of my photos on Facebook. Friends only. but she is not

13 points by easy_rider ↗ HN
Someone managed to like a photo I've uploaded. I checked out her profile, but she is not a friend with me or mutual friend of anyone.. Anyway she liked a funny picture I've uploaded as a photo, and now i'm confused. The pic is uploaded with privacy setting "Friends except acquaintances".

Is there any FB exploit roaming around that I'm not aware of or is this some funky bug? Maybe some privacy stuff I am unaware of?

http://i.imgur.com/b8LJmO6.png

12 comments

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easy_rider
Pic or it didn't happen:

(Obviously I sent out the friend request after I saw it). No friends, no mutual, whole different country..

/edit Second one, where you can see the privacy setting. And for more fun I left the URL unsmudged. So you can now all like my pic(?)

/edit2 woops.. http://i.imgur.com/b8LJmO6.png

nmc
Your "pic" also shows us half a dozen of your friend's names (in the right column) and one conversation mini-window (at the bottom, in Dutch) under the Facebook overlay.

I advise you crop/blur those parts.

easy_rider
Thanks for the heads-up. I always miss something gah :)
moioci
Maybe one of your friends tagged her in the photo. This would allow her to see it. I think it would allow her to "Like" it as well.
byoung2
That sounds like a worse version of a bug my wife found. She uploaded a vacation bikini pic set to friends only. Her friend liked the pic, and was friends with my wife's coworker. All of her coworkers saw the bikini pic. In your case this person has no connection at all.
BlackDeath3
Could somebody with a better understanding of how Facebook works explain how this happens? Is it unexpectedly difficult to implement some sort of whitelist or something?
easy_rider
I've sent an inquiry to FB. (Report problem>privacy ) Not that I expect anything to come out of it.
virjog
Is it possible for Tanja to have seen the photo in Ticker from a mutual friend who liked your photo? Or does Ticker adhere to the privacy restriction as well?
easy_rider
But wouldn't I have a "x mutual friend(s)" displayed on Tanja her profile page, if we would have a mutual friend?
anywherenotes
Is it possible you had a mutual friend, and either she unfriended them, or she got unfriended?

You can try asking her, maybe she knows how it happened.