Facebook Deleting Inactive Users Hoax
Summary:Message claims that Facebook is becoming overpopulated and that members who do not send the information to others within two weeks will have their accounts deleted (
Full commentary below).
Status:False
Example:(Submitted, December 2007)
Attention all Facebook membeRs.
Facebook is recently becoming very overpopulated,
There have been many members complaining that Facebook
is becoming very slow.Record shows that the reason is
that there are too many non-active Facebook members
And on the other side too many new Facebook members.
We will be sending this messages around to see if the
Members are active or not,If you're active please send
to other users using Copy+Paste to show that you are active
Those who do not send this message within 2 weeks,
The user will be deleted without hesitation to create more space,
If Facebook is still overpopulated we kindly ask for donations but until then send this message to all your friends and make sure you send this message to show me that your active and not deleted.
Founder of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg
Commentary:
This "warning" is rapidly circulating via Facebook Wall and FunWall posts as well as email and instant messages. According to the message, Facebook is becoming overpopulated and inactive users will soon be deleted to create more space. The message instructs recipients to send the information to others to prove that they are active members or risk having their account "deleted without hesitation".
However, the information in the message is complete nonsense and should not be taken seriously. The message is yet another variant of a long running hoax that has targeted a number of online services, including
Hotmail,
Yahoo,
MSN,
Bebo,
Orkut and several others.
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©iStockphoto.com/Alex Slobodkin
Hoaxes and false rumours can spread rapidly via Social Networking websites
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In August 2007,
another hoax message claimed that Facebook would shut down if 1 million people did not join within 7 days. This claim was also totally unfounded.
Any claim that your account with a particular service will be deleted if you do not forward a message to others is virtually certain to be a hoax. No legitimate company is likely to conduct business in this manner, least of all a popular and successful entity such as Facebook.
Some online services do have a policy of terminating accounts that have been inactive for a specified period. However, in such cases, the service would almost certainly attempt to contact the user directly to warn of an impending account termination. It is simply absurd to suggest that the service would require its users to send on a particular message to others in order to prove that they are active members. Such services already know if a member is active via login records and other means. They do not require the reposting of a vague and poorly written message to ascertain a member's level of activity on the network
Pranksters use this ruse because it is a very successful method of ensuring that a hoax message spreads far and wide. If you receive this message, please do not pass it on to others and let the sender know that the information is untrue.
Last updated: 19th December 2007
First published: 19th December 2007
Write-up by Brett M. Christensen
