"Facebook has started using a different URL scheme for site links," reports tech blog Ghacks, "to combat URL anonymization techniques used by browsers like Firefox or Brave."
These programs are constantly trying to improve privacy and prevent their users from being tracked.
Some sites, such as Facebook, add parameters to the address for the purpose of tracking its members. These parameters have no functionality related to the user, and are used to track users to other pages.
Mozilla with Firefox 102 released in June 2022 started supporting the removal of parts of URLs that track the user. Firefox now removes all tracking parameters from web addresses automatically, but only in private browsing mode or when the browser's Tracking Protection feature is set to strict.
Firefox users can enable URL stripping in all Firefox features, but this requires manual configuration. Brave Browser also automatically removes known tracking parameters from addresses.
Facebook, however, seems not to agree with this practice, as it forbids its favorite sport, the tracking of users. So it no longer allows removing the part of the URL that tracks users, as it merged it with part of the address needed to open a page or post.
For example in the URL https://www.facebook.com/iGuRu.gr/posts/pfbid0qEcmiG4AubUuYG2psZnephHPfNnJqFEsRt2nHPcmBNUH1axDHJ8G7KpLzU7y3a36l you can't remove something because the post won't open. What the largest social network actually did was embed the tracking code into the existing link, using encryption.
While in the URL https://iguru.gr/microsoft-klevei-kodika-apo-github-kai-ton-poulaei/?sdthsergseQ#$TQW$TGAWER$F you can easily remove it ?sdthsergseQ#$TQW$TGAWER$F which exists at the end.
