Facebook hit by 'friend request' glitch

Facebook has been slammed by many of its users who claimed that the social network automatically sends "friend requests" to people they want to avoid. Users are expressing their anger on various Internet forums, saying Facebook is sending requests to "friends of friends" or people in networks they have joined. The social networking site has been unable to explain the glitch, but has insisted it is not an official Facebook feature. Social media experts, however, suggested rogue Facebook applications could be responsible for this, the Herald Sun reports. Anyone can create a Facebook application and Facebook does not check their authenticity before they pop up on users' accounts. According to technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic, people don't realise when they approve applications they give them access to account information. Cubrilovic said spammers could make big bucks "phishing" for information on users' Facebook account. "Verified email addresses sell for 20c to one dollar each so if they are able to extract 100,000 verified email addresses from Facebook that is probably worth upwards of 20,000 dollars to spammers," the paper quoted him, as saying.