Type “BFF” on Facebook to See If Your Account is Secure-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “invented” the term BFF (short for best friends forever) and you can type BFF into Facebook to see if your account is secure.
The Truth:
Typing BFF into a Facebook won’t tell you if your account is secure.
It’s not clear where that rumor started. But it spread across Facebook after reports of Cambridge Analytica’s unauthorized use of Facebook user data in March 2018. The story sparked concerns among Facebook users about privacy and data security, leading to delete Facebook movement. That created perfect conditions for false privacy warnings.
The warning urged users to type BFF into a comment on Facebook. If the letters turn green, that means the account is protected. If they don’t that means the account could be hacked by someone and the password should be changed immediately.
There’s no truth to this warning. In reality, the phrase “BFF” turns green when typed into Facebook for a very different reason. Facebook updated its news feed in late 2017. As part of the overhaul, words like “bff”, “rad,” “congratulations” and “xoxo” appear in different colors. That’s because clicking on them triggers animations like balloons or hearts to liven up your news feed. The color-coded text has nothing to do with account security.
If you do want to review and/or add more security to your Facebook account, the platform allows you to run a Security Checkup. It’ll help you set up account security features like automatically logging you out from unused browsers and apps and alerts when someone logs into your account from an unrecognized device. It also provides additional tips to protect your account password.