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Facebook Stabbing Application Gets the Chop

July 28, 2008 9:04 AM

By Stephen Webb, ABC News London

Facebook has hundreds of applications. Some are handy for daily tasks -- such as organizing social events and sharing photos -- while others have wackier uses, like throwing a virtual sheep at your friends. But getting stabbed by your friend has proved to be a step too far.

Members of Facebook could send a message to anyone else on the site informing them they had been “shanked” – street slang for stabbed. If they accepted the request, their profile would show they had been stabbed and by whom, illustrated by a knife icon.

Facebook didn’t actually make the stabbing application. It, like hundreds of applications available on the social networking site was created by an outside company. In this case, Slide, an American software company.

Slide added the option to stab your friends to their popular SuperPoke! application, which allows users to perform all kinds of virtual actions like hugs, kisses and dances.

It has now been removed following angry complaints from anti-knife crime campaigners.

The uncle of Rob Knox, the Harry Potter actor who died after being stabbed in May, told the British newspaper, The Sun, that the application "incited" violence.

Facebook has released a statement to the press stating the application has been removed and was produced by a third party. Slide was not available for comment.

July 28, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (1)

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Posted by: Karen | Jul 30, 2008 10:44:46 PM

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