Facebook bug drama

FACEBOOK yesterday said it was notifying more than 800,000 users that a software bug temporarily unblocked people at the social network and its Messenger service.

The glitch, active between May 29 and June 5, has been fixed, according to Facebook, which has been striving to regain trust in the aftermath of a Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal.

“We know that the ability to block someone is important,” Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan said in a blog post.

Blocking someone on Facebook prevents them from seeing posts in a blocker’s profile, connecting as a friend, or starting Messenger conversations. Blocking also “unfriends”.

The bug did not restore severed friend connections, but someone who was blocked could have been able to reach out to a blocker on Messenger, according to Facebook.