Facebook: No private messages appeared on Timelines
Facebook have gone into PR overdrive this morning, after numerous users claimed yesterday that private messages were appearing on their public Timelines, something which Facebook have vehemently denied.
The majority of complaints originated in France, where users claimed that private messages from 2007 to 2009 had begun to appear on their Timelines for all to see. Though Timelines can be set only so that friends may see what’s listed, private messages that are intended as one-to-one conversations could contain sensitive details. Fair-weather friends web-wide were quaking in their boots.
Facebook are confident that no such security flaw had occurred however and are “satisfied that there has been no breach of user privacy.”
It appears likely that some users are mixing up old, legacy wall posts for private conversations. Think back to when Facebook was a twinkle in the web’s eye, when employers and parents had not got involved yet; we were all probably a little more open with what we wrote publicly on the site, or perhaps didn’t even realise who could see what. Nowadays we’re all far more careful over what is visible online, but with Facebook’s Timeline now showing posts from years ago, the digital past may come back to haunt some.
Regardless of Facebook’s denial, users remain convinced that private messages have been made public. Facebook, as a behemoth company that relies on users’ trust in its privacy controls to maintain the massive numbers it makes money off of, will of course claim everything is fine.
So we turn to you, Tech Digest readers! Any strange messages popping up on your Facebook Timelines? Sweet-nothings to a loved one? Bit of back-stabbing mate slagging? Let us know in the comments below!
Via: BBC
