Comment @[4:0] to Check If Facebook Account Hacked: Fact Check

Story:

How to check if your Facebook account is hacked with simple comment

Simply type @[4:0] in the comment box, don’t give space when you type.
If it shows Mark Zuckerberg it means your account is not hacked. If not, then, you need to change your setting…

Try it now… It works!

Other Versions

Go onto a photo on facebook and type in the comments

@[4:0]

If it changes to Mark Zuckerberg it means your fb hasn’t been hacked.
Mark Zuckerberg is the creator of fb….

Picture Suggesting Type in Comment Box to Check If Your Facebook Account is Hacked — Type in Comment Box to Check If Your Facebook Account is Hacked

Fact Check:

Various pictures and messages floating around on Facebook suggest users to type the characters @[4:0] in the comment box and see if it shows Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook), to confirm their accounts are not hacked. If not, it is said that users should change their account settings. While it is a fact that typing the characters @[4:0] in the comment box on Facebook shows up the founder’s name Mark Zuckerberg on some platforms, it has got nothing to do with hacking, nor it is an indication if the name doesn’t show up.

Typing @[4:0] in the Facebook Comment Box

To check the claim, when we typed the characters @[4:0] in the Facebook comment box in desktop version, we saw Facebook adding a space and posting the comment @ [4:0] as is, without showing up the founder’s name Mark Zuckerberg. When we checked the same on mobile version however, the name was displayed. Further, when we typed 5 instead of 4 in the character code and later 6 instead of 4, the names of Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz were displayed respectively; both being the cofounders of Facebook. The same phenomenon may be observed in some desktop versions as well.

The trick or perhaps better described as a bug is not newly known, it surfaced online since at least year 2012. It is the fact that the character code @[Number:0] relates to the way in which Facebook ‘tags’ other users when you try to mention them in a post. The number 4 in @[4:0] is actually the Facebook unique identification code of the founder, Mark Zuckerberg’s account that was most certainly created in the very beginning. Similarly 5 and 6 are the Facebook unique identification codes of the cofounders Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz. Note, this is not something special that only works for Facebook founders. It works for any Facebook user, including your own. The appearance of these names has got nothing to do with hacking. So, the stories scaring users of account hacking in case the founder name does not appear are hoaxes.