I created a small script to handle all webhooks from Facebook feed. The goal is to detect when a page goes live and get all comments from that live video. So far, everything is working well: I receive all the necessary information, including comments with the from ID and from Name.

However, I've encountered an issue where the from ID doesn't seem to be correct. If I try to navigate to facebook.com/FROM_ID, I get an error. After fetching some data and comparing it against known user IDs, I noticed they don't match at all. I wonder if this is normal, a bug, or some kind of encryption.

Issue The from ID received in the webhook payload seems incorrect.

Here is an example of the payload I'm receiving:

Array (     [entry] => Array         (             [0] => Array                 (                     [id] => 1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx                     [time] => 1716213862                     [changes] => Array                         (                             [0] => Array                                 (                                     [value] => Array                                         (                                            ** [from] => Array                                                 (                                                     [id] => 1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                                     [name] => User Name                                                 )**                                             [post] => Array                                                 (                                                     [status_type] => added_video                                                     [is_published] => 1                                                     [updated_time] => 2024-05-20T14:04:16+0000                                                     [permalink_url] => https://www.facebook.com/MYPAGE/                                                     [id] => 1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx_1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                                 )                                             [message] => Some Random Message                                             [post_id] => 1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx_1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                             [comment_id] => 1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx_1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                             [created_time] => 1716213856                                             [item] => comment                                             [parent_id] => 1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx_1xxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                             [verb] => add                                         )                                     [field] => feed                                 )                         )                 )         )     [object] => page )

Questions

  • Is it normal for the from ID in webhook events to not match the expected user ID format?
  • Is there any encryption or obfuscation applied to the from ID?
  • Has anyone else faced this issue, and how did you resolve it?

Additional Information

Thank you!

Graph API Requests: I tried using the Graph API with the from ID to fetch basic user information but received errors.

Searching for Similar Issues: I searched extensively for similar issues related to Facebook webhooks but couldn’t find any relevant solutions.

Tag:php, facebook, facebook-graph-api, facebook-webhooks

2 comments.

  1. ceejayoz

    These IDs are per-app obfuscated IDs known as app scoped IDs.

    The IDs are only valid for API usage, unless the user_link scope is requested and approved by Facebook. If that scope is approved and the user authorizes it, the links become functional in-browser.

    The user_link permission allows your app to access the Facebook profile URL of the person using your app.

    Reply
    1. Bruno

      Thank you so much for your help! Your explanation about the IDs being app-scoped clarified the issue for me. I really appreciate

      Reply

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