Facebook Android app requests 'superuser' access to device

Facebook wants all your data, and, when it comes to Android users, it's not afraid to ask for it.

Several users of the social media service posted on Twitter early Friday morning to report that their Android Facebook apps were requesting "superuser access" to their devices. That's right, Facebook apparently wants "full access" to the phones, for that little period of time known as "forever."

As Bleeping Computer reported, it's not exactly clear what is going on here, but a possible coding error could be to blame. We reached out to Facebook for comment but received no response as of press time. [Editor's note: see Facebook's official statement below.]

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In the meantime, people are responding rather poorly to Facebook's request.

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

For a company still working to manage the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, this is not a good look.

Notably, this appears to have been going on for at least a week. A May 9 Reddit post calls out the same issue.

"So, I have Facebook asking for root access, as soon as I open an 'Instant Article'," wrote Reddit user Segin. "I have a screenshot of the resultant MagiskSU pop-up identifying the requesting app's package name as 'com.facebook.katana.'"

Thankfully, even if Facebook remains mum, there are two steps you can take to fight back against this superuser request: first click "deny," and then delete your account.

UPDATE: May 18, 2018, 12:57 p.m. EDT: A Facebook spokesperson provided the following statement:

A coding error in one of our anti-fraud systems caused a small number of people running the Facebook app and certain permission management apps on rooted Android phones to see a request for additional access permissions. We do not need or want these permissions, and we have already fixed this issue. We apologize for any confusion.

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