Protecting Facebook Identifiers To Prevent Scraping

Meta had worked on creating an identifier that combines a timestamp and an FBID to generate a unique time-rotating identifier that will help in protecting Facebook identifiers.

As Meta Blog wrote, “As part of an ongoing series about addressing data misuse, we recently shared an update on how our External Data Misuse (EDM) team works to safeguard people against clone sites. Today, we’re detailing our approach on deterring scraping of Facebook Identifiers (FBIDs) on Facebook.”

Understanding Identifiers

Most businesses incorporate distinctive identifiers into the URLs of their websites. Identifiers are a technique to specifically refer to particular users or content, including posts, images, and videos. These identifiers are referred to as FBIDs on Facebook, and we utilize them to load content for users.

Both permitted and illicit data harvesting from a website or app is known as scraping. Unauthorized scraping frequently uses purchased or guessed IDs to collect people’s data. Scrapers occasionally gather identities and use phone numbers or other publicly accessible data to cross-reference to generate reusable data sets that are occasionally sold for profit.

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“We created Pseudonymized Facebook Identifiers (PFBIDs), which combine timestamps and FBIDs to generate a unique time-rotating identifier. As we phase out the ability to access the original identifiers, this helps deter unauthorized data scraping by making it harder for attackers to guess, connect and repeatedly access data.”, shared Meta in their blog.

The removal of tracking elements from the URL by browser tools is not intended to be prevented by these identifiers. We employ this procedure to better safeguard individuals’ privacy from specific enumeration and time-delayed attacks while maintaining the capacity for lasting linkages.

Let’s see what else Meta has in store for privacy and protection, even though all of this follows the modifications it made previously to safeguard user data and the community.