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Facebook Friend Finder suggests me to search for friends and asks for my email password saying "N found 2 friends by searching his email contacts. Give it a try". But my friend never did this, I asked.

Why does Facebook say this? Does Facebook lie to us?

http://i.imgur.com/EaZhU.png?1

http://i.imgur.com/k119X.png?1

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It's likely your friend did it when he first signed up with Facebook and forgot about it. – jonsca Dec 21 '12 at 21:56
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No, he registered not so long ago and he is sure. And he could never do this, he thinks that it is very stupid to provide his passwords anywhere. Strike this off. – user30737 Dec 22 '12 at 1:12
It happened to me as well, but opposite. My friend showed me that Facebook wrote that I "found friends by searching her email contacts". But I don't trust Facebook and I never did this! – nadya Dec 22 '12 at 1:19
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That seems like an advertisement. – ekaj Dec 22 '12 at 5:23

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

And he could never do this, he thinks that it is very stupid to provide his passwords anywhere.

I just tried this on my own Facebook account with both Google and Hotmail (my FB account is attached to the Hotmail account), and neither option in the Find Friends section requested any password. I am already authenticated with Google and Hotmail in another tab, so it is likely that it never prompted your friend for a password.

I can't honestly see this as being a chance for Facebook to inflate the use of the Find Friends portion of the site.

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Sorry, I don't get the point. I added images showing password request. My friend rather often can see the same requests. >I am already authenticated with Google and Hotmail in another tab... - Do you think that Facebook took your address book without letting you know? – user30737 Dec 22 '12 at 4:11
@user30737 Your friend should check the "Imported Contacts" within the "Find Friends" area to see exactly which names have been imported, if any. I don't think it would have taken anything, but it's easy to click through something if it's not asking you for a password for certain providers. In your graphic, it looks like it's prompting you for a password for a provider that isn't Google, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc., so I don't know if it's being treated differently. – jonsca Dec 22 '12 at 4:21
Checked "manage imported contacts" in Find Friends, nothing imported: "You have not invited any of your friends yet". The same for my friend and for me. I also checked the Google option, if you are not logged in, then it asks to export manually all your contacts and then upload them into Facebook. And my friend also uses mail which has not so simple import as Google but requires the password. – user30737 Dec 22 '12 at 4:40
@user30737 Well, failing all of that, I'd have your friend go to facebook.com/help/263149623790594 and report it to Facebook. – jonsca Dec 22 '12 at 4:51
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For at least Gmail, and perhaps others (like Yahoo and Hotmail and others), you probably won't need to enter your email password. If you are logged into Gmail and logged into Facebook, then you can provide permission for Facebook to access your Gmail contacts by clicking through a Gmail page that simply asks if you allow it... no password would be necessary since you are already logged in.

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