As quickly and as quietly as it was introduced, Facebook has now taken down its new "Find Friends Nearby" feature. News.com reports that Facebook removed the feature earlier today. A Facebook spokesperson would not comment on the move.
Facebook added the new feature, which was originally to be called Friendshake, this past weekend for both the web and mobile versions of the service. It allowed people to find their Facebook friends, or any possible future friends, if they happen to be nearly their location. Since it was introduced, many people were concerned that this feature could be used by some malicious users to locate people that they didn"t really know.
Meanwhile, another company has accused Facebook of stealing their idea for Find Friends Nearby. Charles Sankowich, the CEO of the company Friendthem, said they had the idea before Facebook. Sankowich told News.com, "Facebook engineer Ryan Patterson claims the feature was born at a hackathon as "Friendshake," but we believe they simply stole trademarked materials of Friendthem.com."
Sankowich also claimed he discussed his company and their products with an unnamed Facebook executive in February.
Source: News.com