Facebook Posting 'Private Messages': Reports

But maybe they're just old wall postings?
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 24, 2012 2:51 PM CDT
Facebook Posting 'Private Messages': Report
In this Oct. 10, 2011 file photo, a magnifying glass is posed over a monitor displaying a Facebook page in Munich.   (AP Photo/dapd, Joerg Koch)

Are people's private Facebook messages appearing in their Timelines today? French newspapers posted stories saying as much, and similar incidents cropped up in the US, reports Slate, but now TechCrunch reports that the messages from 2007 to 2009 are actually old wall posts that were never private in the first place. Facebook concurs, saying that "a lot of the confusion is because before 2009 there were no likes and no comments on wall posts. People went back and forth with wall posts instead of having a conversation."

In fact, Facebook says the messages were always available in Timeline, and the issue just cropped up in France because Timeline was recently rolled out there. Not everyone is convinced, however: "Readers are finding Facebook’s statement hard to believe," reports TheNextWeb, which says readers are pointing out phone numbers and addresses in the postings—"which would have only been sent as private messages." (More Facebook stories.)

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