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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Facebook spam: Site under siege with shocking pornographic and violent images

Young woman using laptop; raising eyebrows; shocked; suprised; Compassionate Eye Foundation/Chris Newton/OJO Images Ltd /Getty

Facebook users are raising eyebrows at a recent wave of shocking spam.Users are unknowingly sharing the X-rated links with fellow members

volley of graphic spam has made some users’ Facebook feeds accidentally scandalous.

The content includes pornographic and violent images that are causing discontent among Facebook users, reports Graham Cluley, a tech consultant at Sophos and a blogger for their Naked Security blog.

Among the disturbing images being circulated is a photo of an abused dog and a Photoshopped image depicting Justin Bieber performing a sex act, reports Cluley.

"It seems highly offensive spam content has successfully spread via Facebook for 24 hours or more," wrote Cluley. "It's precisely this kind of problem which is likely to drive people away from the site. Facebook needs to get a handle on this problem quickly, and prevent it from happening on such a scale again."

On Tuesday, in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook admitted there was a “coordinated spam attack” that happened because some users were tricked into pasting malicious links into their browsers – which allowed third parties to post X-rated content – without the user knowing it.

“We’ve put in place backend measures to reduce the rate of these attacks and will continue to iterate on our defenses to find new ways to protect people,” a Facebook spokesman told the newspaper.

The spam has been the latest in a spate of public relation missteps for the social media network. Earlier this week, Salman Rushdie blasted Facebook for not allowing him to use Salman – instead requiring to use his first name, Ahmed. They later corrected that decision after Rushdie protested. 

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