Facebook 8216;likes8217; add automatically without user-clicks

Reportedly,leaving a comment on a story within a Facebook page also adds to the tally.

8220;We did recently find a bug with our social plug-ins where at times the count for the Share or Like goes up by two,and we are working on fix to solve the issue now,8221; the site said.

Facebook explained that the figure represented how many times an item was shared 8211; not how often users had clicked 8220;like8221; on the page.

However,the number appears next to the word 8220;like8221; and the site8217;s distinctive thumbs up icon.

This means that users who may be sharing pages to highlight negative content 8211; such as campaigners are inadvertently making the page appear more popular.

The news comes a day after Facebook said it has surpassed the milestone of one billion monthly active users.