Ubuntu – this strange spontaneous Facebook/Google Chrome popup

google-chrome

Recently my Ubuntu 12.10 system has started the following strange behavior: A Google Chrome window will pop up, trying to load this URL:

http://www.facebook.com/login.php?skip_api_login=1&api_key=302061903208115&signed_next=1&next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fdialog%2Foauth%3Fredirect_uri%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fconnect%252Flogin_success.html%26display%3Dpopup%26scope%3Dpublish_stream%252Cread_stream%252Cstatus_update%252Cuser_photos%252Cfriends_photos%252Cxmpp_login%26type%3Duser_agent%26client_id%3D302061903208115%26ret%3Dlogin&cancel_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Flogin_success.html%3Ferror%3Daccess_denied%26error_code%3D200%26error_description%3DPermissions%2Berror%26error_reason%3Duser_denied%23_%3D_&display=popup

This will result in a page that says:

Success
SECURITY WARNING: Please treat the URL above as you would your password and do not share it with anyone.

With URL:

=">https://www.facebook.com/connect/blank.html#=

(Despite that warning, I don't seen anything confidential in the URL.)

What I find very strange about this is that it will pop up a few minutes after I boot my system, before I even start Chrome.

Is this some kind of malware, or what?

EDIT: After deleting the "Ubuntu App" from Facebook(!), the popups still occur, but now they bring up a message saying "Ubuntu would like to access your public profile, friend list, News Feed, photos and your friends' photos."

Best Answer

For me, the solution was to remove my Facebook account from the Ubuntu settings. Why do I want Ubuntu to know about my Facebook account anyway?

System Settings -> Online Accounts --> Facebook --> Remove Account
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