It's the perfect plot line for a Mean Girls sequel (actually, I think there were already a couple of those that were awful): the rumour mill that is the Internet is abuzz with claims of a Facebook glitch which causes users' private messages from between 2007 and 2010 to be displayed publicly on their timeline.
Remember when you were in 11th grade and you'd chewed through your $25 of phone credit for the month so you would, in your crafty 16 year-old-ways, use your Facebook inbox to organise which (tall) friend would pick up the six bottles of Passion Pop on Saturday night at that one bottle shop that never asks for ID? I do. And, gosh – I really worry about what future employers might think of me if they ever saw these... all the classy kids rocked the Fruity Lexia sack.
Well, my nightmares may have come to fruition. Reports surfaced via French publication Metro France earlier today that Facebook users had been alarmed and upset to find their private messages of 2008 and 2009 published on their timeline amongst their regular wall posts.
Those guys at Facebook must feel like that one friend who told another friend what the other friend said about the first friend, and then the friend finds out and Facebook has to be like “Whaaat? No way, no I did not.” Basically, they're sticking with the age old adage: deny, deny, deny.
A spokesperson for the social media mega-power told the guys at TechCrunch: “Every report we've seen, we've gone back and checked. We haven't seen one report that's been confirmed [of a private message being exposed]. 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 the comments of a single wall post.]”
But comments posted under the article have shown more than a few Facebook users confirming that they've found private messages from as early as 2007 on their timeline.
Ever dedicated to finding the truth, we here at the Scenestr offices have been doing intense research on our own Facebook pages...
Things I've uncovered on my timeline thus far: a message suggesting I “take a long hard look at myself” in order to uncover the emotional reasons for my statuses always being in irate capitals; a discussion regarding a fellow classmate who “photoshops herself beyond all recognition,”; a post asking me why I told the friend that thing my friend said about them (to which I've probably replied, “Whaaat? No way, no I did not.”), and various posts about Passion Pop/Nokia 3310s/those baggy Tsubi jeans that were so cool that one time.
Our verdict: well, the jury's out on this one. But we suggest you take a look back anyway and, if need be, liberally use the handy little pencil icon to edit out all the shit you talked about your best friend in '07.
