Facebook is notifying over 800,000 users about a bug in Facebook and Messenger that unblocked some people they had blocked. According to Facebook, the bug was active between May 29 and June 5 -- and while someone who was unblocked could not see content shared with friends, they could have seen things posted to a wider audience.
When you block someone on Facebook they cannot see things you post on your profile, start conversations with you on Messenger or add you as a friend. Blocking also automatically unfriends them if you were previously friends.
In the case of this bug, it did not allowed the blocked person to see posts, photos shared by you but allowed the blocked person to reinstate any friend connections on Messenger. According to Facebook, eighty-three per cent of people affected by the bug had only one person they had blocked temporarily unblocked.
However, there are still not details from the company as to how the bug happened.
“This issue has now been fixed and everyone has been blocked again. People who were affected will get a notification on Facebook encouraging them to check their blocked list. We know that the ability to block someone is important — and we’d like to apologise,” said By Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Facebook.
Facebook has shared some more details about the cause of the bug with TechCrunch’s Journalisy Josh Constine via Twitter:
Facebook is also working on a new feature that will help you keep track of the time spent on the social network. The feature reportedly called “Your Time on Facebook” will work in the same fashion as companies like Apple and Google by providing insights about how users are spending their time on smartphones and other devices.
“In its current form, the feature will show you how much time you’ve spent on Facebook each day over the last week, along with the average time spent on the site per day. It will also offer you the option to set a daily time limit as well as a link to manage your Facebook notifications,” TechCrunch.com reported.
Facebook has confirmed to TechCrunch that the feature is in development, however, it’s not yet announced when it’ll be official.
