Facebook blames a 'bug' for keeping copies of users' seemingly deleted private videos on its servers
Facebook blames a 'bug' for
keeping copies of users' seemingly deleted private videos on its servers as it
continues to deal with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal
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Last month, it was revealed that
Facebook stored deleted videos
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The company today blamed a bug
for the error and promised to delete the clips
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It also confirmed the deleted
content was never publicly shared, although it remains unclear whether Facebook
used the footage in any other way
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Facebook has claimed a 'bug' caused the
platform to save copies of videos that had been deleted by its users.
The
social network was recently caught storing videos that users had recorded but
never posted on the platform.
Facebook
today apologised for the issue and promised that it would permanently delete
the video content in question.
It also
confirmed the deleted content was never publicly shared, although it remains
unclear whether Facebook used the footage in any other way
The
apology comes as Facebook battles a privacy scandal over the harvesting of
personal data on 50 million users by political firm linked to Donald Trump's
2016 campaign.
A
Facebook spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We investigated a report that some
people were seeing their old draft videos when they accessed their information
from our Download Your Information tool.
'We
discovered a bug that prevented draft videos from being deleted. We are
deleting them and apologise for the inconvenience.'
The
company did not address how widespread the issue is and did not reveal whether
there is a way to make sure videos have been removed.
The issue emerged when thousands
of users began downloading their personal data from the site amid the Cambridge
Analytica data scandal.
The
documents includes personal call records, text messages, as well as your
location each time you log into the site.
Last Wednesday, users digging
into the new feature complained that the social media giant had kept hold of
videos they thought they had deleted.
In the
years before Snapchat, Instagram Direct and FaceTime, many people would post
clips of themselves directly to the walls of their Facebook friends.
Depending
on what they were posting it's possible they recorded several takes.
Many
thought that those oft-embarrassing takes were history after they were deleted.
· But
Facebook's user data logs have revealed the company held onto those videos all
along.
One
Twitter user claimed that Facebook had been saving videos their friends
recorded, but never posted on their wall, too.
If you've
downloaded an archive of your Facebook data, the videos are relatively easy to
find.
In each
.zip file, Facebook categories the data into different tabs labelled under
content headings like Photos, Friends and Ads, among other things.
Under the
Videos tab, there are copies of any videos you might have shared on another
user's timeline, as well as the ones you deleted.
To view
them, you'll most likely need to download a free program called VLC Media
Player, which is able to play a variety of different file formats.
Facebook maintains that it
doesn't sell the data it collects, which includes phone contacts and text
history, or collect the content of your text conversations or call logs.
HOW
CAN YOU DOWNLOAD THE MOUNTAINS OF DATA FACEBOOK HAS ON YOU?
Downloading your archived user data from Facebook may reveal a
laundry list of eyebrow-raising data points, from your personal call records,
to text messages, as well as your location each time you log into the site.
To download your data, first log in to your Facebook
account.
In the right-hand corner of your News Feed, there should be an
arrow that displays a dropdown menu.
From there, click on 'Settings' and click on 'Download a copy of
your Facebook data' at the bottom of the screen.
+6
·
Users
can find out exactly what kinds of data Facebook has collected from them by
downloading an archive from the site (pictured). To do this, click on
'Settings' in the News Feed
+6
· The
archive typically includes information like ads you've clicked on and timeline
posts to more intimate information like your text messages, call logs and your
phone's address book
That will take you to a new page, where you can click on 'Start
My Archive' to get a copy of what you've shared on the site, as well as any
personal data that's been collected.
Facebook may tell you to enter your password, as well as your
email, so that it can notify you when your archive is ready for download.
It may take several minutes depending on how much data you have
and how long you've been a Facebook user.
For example, if you've been a Facebook user for more than a
decade, it could take up to 10 minutes for the company to send you your
data.
Once you receive your files, the information is broken down into
sections like contact info, text messages, Facebook messages, advertisers and
more.
While it seems like a breach of
privacy that Facebook kept these videos, according to the firm's data policies,
it was well within its rights to do so.
'We
collect the content and other information that you provide when you use our
Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and
message or communicate with others,' Facebook's website reads.
Even if
you deleted clips recorded on Facebook, you still created them using the
website's tools, which means the firm was technically allowed to store
them.
Yesterday,
chief executive Mark Zuckerberg Facebook said Facebook would need 'a few years'
to fix the problems uncovered by the revelations on the hijacking of private
user data.
Speaking to the news site Vox, Zuckerberg defended the company's business
model and shot back at criticism of the social networking giant from Apple CEO
Tim Cook last week.
The chief
executive also maintained that one of Facebook's problems was that it was
'idealistic,' focusing on the positive aspects of connecting people.
He said
'we didn't spend enough time investing in, or thinking through, some of the
downside uses of the tools.'
Facebook
shares are down 13 per cent since March 16, when it first acknowledged that
user data had been improperly channeled to Cambridge Analytica.
The
company has lost more than $70 billion in market value since then.
Zuckerberg
himself is down more than $10 billion, taking his net worth to just above $60
billion.
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