Facebook Denies Revealing Old Private Messages on Timeline

Facebook's spokesman said that the company’s engineers have investigated the issues and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users’ profile pages. 

As Facebook stated in the emails that the company sent to some popular tech blogs, “Every report we’ve seen, we’ve gone back and checked. We haven’t seen one report that’s been confirmed. A lot of the confusion is because before 2008 there were no likes and no comments on wall posts. People went back and forth with wall posts instead of having a conversation [via comments].

A small number of users raised concerns after what they mistakenly believed to be private messages appeared on their Timeline. Our engineers investigated these reports and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users' profile pages. Facebook is satisfied that there has been no breach of user privacy."

It is possible that there is some confusion on how users’ viewed wall post back in the days; it could very well be that back then we put messages that some considerded as private on the Facebook wall, at least that is how I remember it (back in 2008, I did not use Facebook to send private messages. Either it went to a wall post or I used email to send private stuff, simple!). However, many people were still positive that those messages which appeared on their walls were old private messages, for example TMW’s reporter Anna Heim.

^{Screenshot of Anna Heim's wall posts which contains old private messages (Source: TMW)}

Meanwhile, until we get further confirmation from Facebook about the issue, check your privacy setting once again to make sure it is not open to public (unless you choose to do so). Also go to your profile and check your old posts, see if you find private messages in the wall box. (I have checked mine and some of the wall posts seemed private, but I am not 100% sure because back in the day I used to send messages through wall posts)

Facebook Inc's Stock Falls

Facebook Inc.'s stock crashed heavily. Facebook closed the trading last night on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with more than 9% loss. The share is currently worth $ 20.79. Facebook Inc.'s stock took a hit after an article in the financial magazine Barron's said it is "still too pricey" regardless of a sharp decline since its initial public offering in May this year.

Facebook Removed Face Recognition Tool

Facebook removed the face recognition tool for European users, as the result of protests in European Union countries. The tool enables Facebook to identify people in the photo, which makes it easier for users to tag their friends. The face recognition feature is objected by most European Union members, especially Germany, which argued that the feature is illegal and that Facebook should destroy the database files of the tool. 

Facebook however still hasn't given up. The company announced that they will continue to discuss the issue with the EU authorities with the hope that the tool will again available for European users.

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