A Sydney teenager was forced to cancel her 16th birthday party and organise a small private gathering instead after 180,000 people said they were attending on Facebook.
Jess, a Chatswood resident whose last name was withheld, advertised her party on Facebook because she was worried not many people would show up, the Daily Telegraph reports.
But in only 24 hours, more than 20,000 people were listed as attending and Jess was forced to send a message cancelling the party.
"It's f***ing off" the schoolgirl wrote.
One person who said they were attending joked "that Corey Worthington kid has nothing on this," referring to a Melbourne teenager whose Facebook party attracted 500 guests.
Jess's father, who asked his name be withheld, said his daughter was the victim of a hoax.
"My girl is an innocent victim," he said.
"She was just anxious about whether anyone would show up to her birthday."
Jess had intended to invite only her year 10 grade, but on the invitation she said she didn't have enough time to invite everyone and asked her friends to ask people for her.
"[It's an] open house party as long as it doesn't get out of hand," she said.
Jess's father said the teenager did not know how to use the privacy settings on Facebook.
Jess eventually had a smaller privately-organised party, but police attended to make sure it did not get out of hand.
"It is a huge number of hits and could potentially turn very serious," Chatwood police Inspector Peter Yeomans said.
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