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​Facebook Adds Read Receipts to Events, Ruined Friendships to Follow

The chilling dystopia of Facebook read receipts.

Facebook has added read receipts to events on the site, inching closer to its inevitable future as a dystopian internet wasteland where it is impossible to stealthily get out of annoying social situations.

Read receipts have been a much-bemoaned feature of Facebook's messaging app, as well as private groups that have fewer 250 members. This week, the site enabled hosts of events to determine who has actually seen the Facebook invites they've sent out but not replied, making the simple act of viewing of your notifications a horrifying social contract you can't escape.

"We're piloting the ability for private event hosts and guests to know whether their friends they invited have seen the event," a Facebook spokesperson told the Daily Dot.

This is what my guest list for an upcoming event looks like, featuring people who have seen my invite but not replied (I see you!):

Our only option now is to never open Facebook invites again, or our laptops for that matter. Let's just ban the whole internet.