Facebook admits it unblocked your blocked contacts in latest privacy gaffe
The social network has admitted to yet another privacy blunder, showing yet again that Facebook can't be trusted with your data
FACEBOOK has admitted to a major bug that unblocked contacts that you'd previously blocked.
The bug affected more than 800,000 users around the world, so Facebook is now urging everyone to check their blocked lists immediately.
Blocking someone is a great way to prevent harassment, abuse, or annoying content from ruining your Facebook experience.
And users trust Facebook to enforce those blocks: when you block someone, they shouldn't be able to see anything you post.
Sadly, Facebook says that it accidentally unblocked blocked contacts on both Facebook and the Messenger app.
"We know that the ability to block someone is important – and we'd like to apologise and explain what happened," said Erin Egan, who heads up privacy at Facebook.
Normally when you block someone, it means they can't see things you post on your profile.
That person is also banned from starting conversations with you on Messenger, or adding you as a friend.
Blocking will also automatically unfriend a person if you were previously friends.
According to Facebook, someone who was unblocked accidentally due to the bug could have started conversations over Messenger.
But Facebook says no severed friend connections were reinstated, and the majority of people only had one blocked contact unblocked.
"The issue has now been fixed and everyone has been blocked again," explained Egan.
"People who were affected will get a notification on Facebook encouraging them to check their blocked list."
The notification you receive will show up as: "We recently found and fixed a technical issue about the people you blocked. Learn more."
Clicking on the notification will take you to a page explaining that the bug was live between May 29 and June 5.
The page will also explain exactly who was unblocked, and that the person has now been re-blocked.
Unblocking contacts without permission is a major gaffe by Facebook.
Even Egan, in her statement, admits that the blocking tool is very sensitive: "There are many reasons why people block another person on Facebook.
"For example, their relationship may have changed or they may want to take a break from someone posting content they find annoying.
"Other reasons are more serious like harassment or bullying."
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The admission comes just months after Facebook was caught up in another major privacy scandal.
The social network was exposed for giving away the personal info of more than 80million Facebook users to third-party app makers.
Then in June, The Sun reported on how a Facebook bug meant that 14million people had their posts shared to the wide world – even though they should've been set to "friends only" viewing.
Later that month, Facebook was revealed to have suffered another massive data breach that exposed the details of 120million users.
A security researcher outed Facebook for letting a personality quiz app give away details on users to third-parties online since 2016.
The data included names, date of births, posts, statuses, photos, and friends list.
And the data kept getting leaked even after users had deleted the app.
Do you trust Facebook with your info? Let us know in the comments!
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