2y ago

How to prevent link hijacking on sites like Facebook, Reddit and Twitter?

Lately I've noticed some mainstream sites injection tracking links into literally every link on their site.

When I hover over it, it shows the correct link at the bottom of my browser, but if I click it or copy it, it takes me to a hijacked tracker link.

Then I can't even get the original link without having my activity tracked.

How do I get the original link that appears at the bottom of my browser?

30 comments

There's an extension for Firefox and maybe Chrome that should help. I think it's called ClearURL, or something similar. It removes the trackers from the ends of URLs
EDIT: That's assuming that it's a legitimate tracking URL, and not something that's been added by malware.
- Maybe don’t use Facebook or any other site that does this?
  I’ve been told this is an unreasonable solution.
  
  That sounds more like malware then. Links from Twitter shouldn't have any Facebook tracking info.
  Check your browser for any extensions that you don't recognise, and if you're on Windows, download and run the free version of Malwarebytes.
- I don't have an extention on FF but whenever I copy a link there's an option to also copy clean link. I'm not home, but I believe this is associated with my search engine being SearXNG.
  
  This is actually a rather new feature in the firefox browser unrelated to searx.
Firefox can do it without an extension now
- Long live the Fox
I believe Skip Redirect does this, it's available for both Firefox and Chrome
Disable JavaScript.
Maybe try https://linkcleaner.app/
I use LibreWolf and maximum protection just for FB and similar web pages, and Firefox for normal browsing or other safe sites and my problem is solved.
NextDNS, Brave Browser, and I believe uBlock Origin has features to clean up the trackers and redirects from links.
- Looks like it's straight up through Firefox now a days: https://lemmy.world/post/8834978
  
  Looks like its only for copy, not left-clicking to open it.
  Also doesnt stop click-hijacking. If the Site encodes a url you cannot decode, you have to go through the site or, if the link is also visible as text, grab that.
- uBlock requires you to enable an additional filter list I think (Privacy > AdGuard URL Tracking Protection)
This should help: https://filterlists.com/lists/clearurls-for-ublock-origin
blocking the intermediate domain works for me with twitter, it fails the first time and gives up trying to rewrite.
If it's showing at the bottom of the browser, then the browser thinks the link is a regular link, but clicking or copying it may invoke some JavaScript that either manipulates the link or simply redirects to the tracker site after an onClick event. I'd like to see this for my own curiosity. If my thought is correct, then there should be some way to disable that specific method call with uBlock or some other mechanism. I'm curious what happens with a text based browser or screen reader type browser. You could also trace the JavaScript and see what's happening. If this is really happening with the big social media sites, it's just a matter of time until a plugin is developed to correct the behavior.
I'm gonna sound like a dick who didn't really address the intended question, but why use those sites? Not being on corporate social media solves the problem. I know that doesn't work for a lot of people, so apologies to those folks.

30 comments