Facebook says it accidentally let anybody read private posts from 14 million users

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Facebook says it accidentally let anybody read private posts from 14 million users

Mark Zuckerberg

Reuters/Leah Millis

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen through reflective glass as he sits in the office of Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) while he waits for a meeting in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, U.S.

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  • Facebook announced Thursday that they'd discovered a "software bug" that caused millions of status updates that were intended to be posted privately among friends to be public.
  • The bug affected 14 million users, between May 18 and May 27, according to Facebook.
  • The social media told TechCrunch and others that the affected users will be notified and asked to review their posts from that period, but it's unclear how soon that will happen.

Facebook announced on Tuesday that millions of users had their privacy settings accidentally changed by a "software bug," letting anyone on the internet read status updates and posts that were intended only for private audiences. 

The company says that the problem occured between May 18 and May 27, but has since been fixed. 

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Facebook told Recode that 14 million users may have been affected, and that whose posts were made public incorrectly will be notified. Users have already taken to Twitter to show what the notification looks like: 

 

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Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

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