Facebook removed access to user groups after v2.3. Now it only allows access to user-managed groups. I, however, need to access all user groups for my app to work. Do you know of any way around this and why Facebook would remove that? I can still generate an access token for v2.3 through the Graph API Explorer, but it only lasts a few minutes and it needs to be associated with an app for it to be extended (per instructions here: Generate "never-expire" access token for Facebook Page), but I can't create an app on Facebook with an older version of the API.
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No, there is no way around this. If there was any, it would be a bug. And the why should be quite obvious - privacy. Users might discuss all kinds of sensitive topics/problems in closed groups (medical, sexual, …) - it would be bad if every single group member could decide to devulge that information to a 3rd party (app developer), and therefor this decision is now only for group admins to make. – CBroe Jan 18 '17 at 08:55
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there's no reasonable expectation of privacy on facebook. i think your answer is wrong on all levels because facebook itself mines post data to suggest ads (it is an advertising company after all) and members have full access to posts anyway, so even if not using the official API, I'm sure someone dedicated enough could scrape the posts. – FLOWMEEN Jan 18 '17 at 09:18
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Facebook analyzing data is something completely different than an unknown third party (app developer), who for all we know could be a shady dude in wherever planing to do whatever with it. And that there might be other ways to get at the data is irrelevant, that is not a valid argument. – CBroe Jan 18 '17 at 09:32