CompareComparing...

Facebook Admits To Have “Unintentionally Uploaded” 1.5 Million Email Addresses Without Consent

Now Reading
Facebook Admits To Have “Unintentionally Uploaded” 1.5 Million Email Addresses Without Consent

Browse This Page
Share via

The world’s largest social media network, Facebook has been involved in a multitude of controversies over the past couple of years, and a majority of those were directly associated with security. Previously, Facebook claimed to have “accidentally” exposed millions of user passwords in plaintext to employees, which raised questions yet again regarding the privacy protocols of the company. As per fresh reports, Facebook claims to have “unintentionally uploaded” 1.5 million email addresses of new users.

As per sources, Facebook is taking necessary steps to fix this breach. A security researcher noticed that the social media platform was requesting email passwords from new users in order to verify their identities. If the user filled the password field with the intended details, Facebook automatically started importing the contact list associated with the respective email ID, that too without asking for permission to do so.

When this issue was brought to light, Facebook spokesperson came forward with a statement regarding the breach, which stated that a total of 1.5 million contacts were collected by the company. All these addresses were fed into the company’s database, where they were used to develop a web of connections allowing friend recommendations. However, Facebook refused to make a statement regarding the fact that the addresses were being used for advertisement based marketing or not.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy A60 With Punch Hole Display Launched In China

Additionally, Facebook is planning to notify the affected users regarding the uninformed data misuse by the company. Furthermore, the spokesperson also said that the American Social media organization is planning to delete all the collected email addresses off the databases. In the light of a variety of security breaches, Whatsapp co-founder previously urged students to stop using Facebook. With the number of improprieties building up over time, the company is facing grave times in the future, especially since a lot of users are being made aware of the same. 

What's your reaction?
Awesome
100%
Epic
0%
Like
I Want This
0%
Meh
0%
About The Author
Avatar photo
Anubhav Sharma
Game Geek, Hardware fanatic and Troubled by Repetitive Music. Anubhav covers Tech & Alt at iGyaan; Science, Medicine and Games