Who is Jayden K Smith? Facebook hoax fools users worldwide
A message warning people not to accept friendship requests from an unknown 'hacker' is going viral

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Facebook users are being tricked into a sharing a hoax message, warning them not to accept friendship requests from "Jayden K Smith".
The message, being sent via Facebook Messenger, warns that the account belongs to a hacker who "has the system connected to your Facebook account".
But mass friend requests to unknown users is against Facebook's terms and conditions, and in any case a would-be hacker would not be able to hack into an account just by becoming a friend.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This hasn't stopped the message gaining widespread traction online.
It reads: "Please tell all the contacts in your Messenger list, not to accept Jayden K Smith friendship request. He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received."
Reports of the 'Jayden K Smith' message are popping up all over the world. "This viral message isn't smart," says Mashable, but it seems to be designed to "take advantage of a critical nexus of (the lack of) hacking knowledge."
"Many people don't know how hacking works and many people are also understandably afraid of being hacked," the website adds.
It's an old format "that often gets recycled online, with different variations of the name," says the Daily Telegraph. "The message does contain many of the elements of a viral hoax: a sensational warning, the prospect of devastating consequences, and a prompt to share it widely."
Even so, says the Daily Mirror "it is not clear what the purpose of the hoax is, other than to make people who fall for it look silly".
On the positive side, the message has spawned a number of Twitter jokes and memes:
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 30 September 2023
The Week’s daily digest of the news agenda, published at 8am
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: September 30, 2023
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: September 30, 2023
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Turns out Facebook isn't as polarizing as previously thought
Talking Point New studies show that, contrary to prior belief, the algorithm has little effect on driving polarization
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk: a tale of the tech tape
Under the Radar The two men challenged each other to a fight after years of sniping
By Justin Klawans Published
-
How greater online regulation is prompting fears of a ‘splinternet’
feature Government pressure worldwide means the internet is not as open as it once was
By Sorcha Bradley Published
-
Online Safety Bill: what will happen to WhatsApp under the proposed law?
Today's Big Question Encrypted messaging services call for ‘urgent rethink’ amid talk they could pull out of UK entirely
By The Week Staff Published
-
Donald Trump, the Pope and the disruptive power of AI images
feature AI-generated deepfakes blur reality and could be used for political disinformation or personal blackmail
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Supreme Court, Section 230 and the future of the internet
feature Lawsuits brought against tech giants could have far-reaching consequences for the internet as we know it
By Richard Windsor Published
-
Meta to offer verified accounts on Facebook and Instagram
Speed Read
By Harold Maass Published
-
Meta to settle Cambridge Analytica lawsuit for $725 million
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published