The Facebook app has been quietly turning on people’s cameras and freaking them out
The Facebook app has been quietly turning on
people’s cameras and freaking them out
Jasper HamillWednesday 13 Nov 2019 1:42 am
Social network assures users the creepy ‘bug’
has not been filming their intimate moments and uploading them to Zuck’s
servers
Many people have wondered if their apps are
secretly spying on them. So paranoid 21st-century folk may not be entirely
happy to hear about a ‘bug’ which turns on their phone’s camera whilst they’re
using the Facebook app.
The glitch affects iPhone owners, who said their
camera suddenly switched itself on while they were scrolling through their
feed, watching videos or looking at photos.
When people turned the video to full-screen mode
and then switched back to Facebook’s normal view, they could see a little open
space on the left and the camera app in the background.
Several people have tweeted about the bug and it
has been replicated by tech journalists. Daryl Lasafin, a creative director,
tweeted: ‘Facebook app on iOS 13.2.2 opens my phone’s rear camera when I open a
profile photo swipe down to return (look at the little slit on the left of the
video).
Is this an app bug or an iOS bug??’ Joshua
Maddox, a web designer and digital strategist, tweeted: ‘Found a Facebook
security & privacy issue. When the app is open it actively uses the camera.
I found a bug in the app that lets you see the
camera open behind your feed.’ The social network has admitted the bug exists
and rushed out a fix to the App Store.
Guy Rosen, Facebook VP of integrity, wrote: ‘We
recently discovered our iOS app incorrectly launched in landscape. In fixing
that last week in v246 we inadvertently introduced a bug where the app
partially navigates to the camera screen when a photo is tapped.
We have no evidence of photos/videos uploaded
due to this.’
‘We’ve shipped the fix to App Store and are
waiting for it to be approved.
Team is still digging into details including
about the state of the camera after the bug is first triggered (which relates
to your Q), expect to be able to update you later today.’
Comments
Post a Comment