You open your Facebook feed and see a very important-looking, legal-sounding announcement in a trusted friend’s status update. It seems that you need to post this announcement as your own status update as well, or something terrible will happen, like all of your posts becoming public or all of your photos becoming the property of Facebook.
WATCH: Facebook Privacy Concerns – What Your Status Update Says About You
This is called a Facebook status update. It may alarm you or play on your emotions, but it is a hoax.
Facebook chain status updates could just as well be called “Facebook chain letters,” as they are descendants of chain letters and chain emails.
Years ago, email inboxes were filled with fake messages claiming that Bill Gates wanted to give away money to the recipients of the email. Other chain emails offered good luck or an influx of money if you forwarded the email to 10 people. Some chain letters played on fears and superstitions, threatening bad luck if you broke the chain. Malicious chain emails even contained malware as attachments, resulting in rapid widespread infections due to the viral nature of these messages.
