Private Messages Appearing on Facebook
By Gilbert Falso :: 3:22 PM
Facebook users are reporting a breach of privacy this afternoon as private messages from 2009 and earlier are suddenly appearing on their public timelines and Facebook walls. According to a report on TechCrunch, the messages are appearing as  Timeline messages “posted by friends.â€
A Facebook spokesperson told the blog that, “A small number of users raised concerns after what they mistakenly believed to be private messages appeared on their Timeline. Our engineers investigated these reports and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users’ profile pages. Facebook is satisfied that there has been no breach of user privacy.”
However, it seems as if Facebook’s explanation is not true, as many users are reporting on Twitter that their private messages have been compromised.:
This Facebook Message thing is a huge mess. Confirmed for me. Found some private messages fully exposed on my timeline. techcrunch.com/2012/09/24/rep…
— Matt Galligan (@mg) September 24, 2012
Facebook has a problem on it’s hands……I just had to go and hide all the private messages being displayed. #fail
— Jason Keith (@jaykeith) September 24, 2012
Re: last retweet. It’s not a hoax. Facebook have screwed up an update, and private messages are appearing in some people’s timelines!!
— Ian S (@ianon_) September 24, 2012
Facebook had posted all my 2008 private messages & others’ to me on timeline. So this is true for me at least techcrunch.com/2012/09/24/rep…
— Judith Evans (@JudithREvans) September 24, 2012
We’ll keep our ears open for an update on this.