Not content with leaking our data, Facebook had a strange bug reappear this week – years-old Messenger threads automatically resurfacing in some users' inboxes. Naturally, people flocked to Twitter to complain about the issue, and Facebook has now confirmed that older messages are being treated as fresh ones and turning back up in the Messenger tab on Facebook.com.
Some users have expressed concern over the conversations or past histories that this might reawaken. Messenger archives your entire message conversations unless you actively delete it from your history, so there could be all sorts in there. Who wants to be reminded of dearly departed loved ones anew, or dark patches of their lives that they've since moved on from?
With the time gap between Facebook announcing the upcoming "unsend" feature for Messenger, I have to wonder if the two aren't related somehow.
It definitely looks like a coding issue and not some kind of misapplied policy, as was with the On This Day callback feature that Facebook released in 2015. That caused friction with users as their algorithms didn't know how to differentiate between the uplifting posts it was designed for and the types of tragedies that were being reposted.
Facebook has since said it has resolved the issue, attributing it to software updates.
With Facebook's policy VP, Richard Allen, testifying in the UK Houses of Parliament today, this unfortunate bug couldn't have come at a worse time for the social media giant, as public opinion continues to run against them.
Did you have to deal with the bug? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.