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Why have I been logged out of Facebook, is my profile safe and who can access my account?

FACEBOOK had to address an issue over the weekend regarding accounts logging out on their own.

It seems lots of iPhone users were affected by the issue and mysteriously found themselves logged out of the app, with some struggling to get back in.

 Facebook tweeted to acknowledge the issue
Facebook tweeted to acknowledge the issueCredit: AFP or licensors

Why have I been logged out of Facebook?

Facebook revealed a "configuration change" logged some Apple users out of their Facebook accounts.

Some users just simply had to sign back in but others who used two-factor authentication reported struggling to do so.

This is because two-factor authentication sends out a code via SMS that you also need if you want to login.

These texts were reportedly arriving late.

 The social media giant tweeted a short explanation
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The social media giant tweeted a short explanationCredit: Twitter

Understandably, this left many worried that their accounts had been compromised or taken over by someone else.

Facebook on Saturday: "We’re looking into reports of people being logged out and having to login again to access their Facebook accounts.

"We’re working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience."

It then followed up with: "So Facebook, heard it was a "configuration change."

The social media platform then thanked the engineers who fixed the problem and explained that it too was confused about what "configuration change" actually meant.

The problem should have been resolved for all iPhone users now.

If you're still having issues trying to login to your account then Facebook advises to visit its .

 This isn't the first time Mark Zuckerberg's social network has faced login issues
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This isn't the first time Mark Zuckerberg's social network has faced login issuesCredit: AFP or licensors

Is my profile safe?

If you have been mysteriously logged out of your profile on an iPhone, then chances are you were one of the people affected. There shouldn't be anything to worry about as Facebook has taken responsibility for the technical issue so an outside source wasn't involved. If you think your profile has been hacked you should  to secure it.

Facebook's biggest cyber-security mistakes

Here's some of the major times Facebook let us down...

  • In 2007, Facebook's first targetted advertising product, Beacon, caused outrage because there was initally no opt-in option about the kinds of information users wanted to share
  • In 2009, a Federal Trade Commission investigation was triggered because Facebook users complained that the new privacy tools were too confusing and pushed users to make more of their personal information public
  • In 2010, it was revealed that advertisers were using a privacy loophole to retrieve revealing personal information about Facebook users and the company had to change its software
  • In 2011, the FTC charged Facebook with lying to customers about how their information could be kept private but making it public anyway
  • 2018 saw Facebook's biggest privacy scandal to date with reports that Cambridge Analytica misused user data and Facebook had to admit that it had failed to protect its users

In other news, WhatsApp has made a U-turn on its decision to thrust controversial new terms on users next month.

Bitcoin 'whales' who hold staggering sums of the cryptocurrency could crash the market, experts have warned.

And a hacker has reportedly attempted to trap the penises of people using internet-controlled chastity cages and demanded a ransom.


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