Facebook Deleted Zuckerberg's Messages From Inboxes

UPDATE: Later admitting that information technology has been deleting CEO Mark Zuckerberg'due south old messages from people's inboxes, Facebook today said it plans to start letting all users retract messages they have sent on the platform.

"We accept discussed this feature several times," a Facebook spokesperson told PCMag. "People using our cloak-and-dagger bulletin characteristic in the encrypted version of Messenger take the ability to set a timer — and have their messages automatically deleted. We will at present be making a broader delete message feature available. This may take some fourth dimension. And until this feature is fix, we will no longer be deleting whatever executives' letters. We should have done this sooner — and we're sorry that we did not."

Original Story:
Facebook quietly removed messages sent by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company executives from users' inboxes, a apropos revelation that comes as the visitor struggles to restore user trust following the Cambridge Analytica data leak.

TechCrunch on Fri, citing three unnamed sources, reported that the letters in question "disappeared" from people'due south Facebook inboxes and downloadable archives.

"Facebook chats sent by Zuckerberg from several years ago or older were missing from the inboxes of both former employees and not-employees," the site reported. "What's left makes it look the [sic] recipients were talking to themselves, as just their side of back-and-forth conversations with Zuckerberg however appear."

It's of import to note that users themselves don't have this privilege. If yous delete a Facebook bulletin you sent to someone, it will go away on your end, just still remain in the other person's inbox.

In a statement to PCMag, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed the removal and said it was prompted by security concerns following the 2022 Sony Pictures hack.

"Afterwards Sony Pictures' emails were hacked in 2022 we made a number of changes to protect our executives' communications," Facebook said. "These included limiting the retentivity menses for Marker's messages in Messenger. We did then in total compliance with our legal obligations to preserve messages."

The trouble, though, is that Facebook never informed users almost this action. And, as TechCrunch pointed out, Facebook'due south terms of service don't appear to give the visitor the right to "tamper with users' private message threads."

Meanwhile, this new revelation comes every bit Zuckerberg prepares for a trip to Capitol Loma next calendar week to speak nearly the Cambridge Analytica leak. The CEO this week took responsibility for the leak, which impacted upwards to 87 million users, and acknowledged the company should have done more to protect users' privacy.

When information technology comes to protecting its own privacy, Facebook seems to do a better job.

Most Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's practiced on fitness and smart home products. Teaching yoga for near 10 years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fitness trackers, heart charge per unit monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, forcefulness training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart dwelling house devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, just to name a few.