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.’

https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/13/facebook-app-quietly-turning-peoples-cameras-freaking-11088107/


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