Even Private Facebook Messages Were Not Safe From Cambridge Analytica

If there are still those who aren’t that bothered by the fact that Facebook essentially allowed Cambridge Analytica to run amok with over 87 million of its users’ information, the gravity of the situation might not have come through that clearly. This latest development should put things in context since apparently, even private messages in the Inbox of users were not safe from prying eyes.

For many Facebook users, the thought of having their comments or their habits on the social media site being exposed to the eyes of a data analytics firm might not seem such a big deal anymore. They share all of that information with the public with every comment or post anyway. However, private messages could be another thing entirely.

There’s just something about someone looking through another person’s mailbox that just seems fundamentally eerie. Apparently, this is exactly what Cambridge Analytica had the ability to do, according to the notifications that Facebook has been sending out to potentially affected users. More to the point, the social media site just so happened to ever so slightly slip it in on the sly, WIRED notes.

This seems to be becoming a trend with Facebook. The social network has been known to keep things from users in the past, but lately, it has been using a different tactic of trying to hide crucial information in plain sight by placing them in them in the least obvious places ever.

It did this with the additional 37 million users affected by this debacle on top of the original 50 million announced by putting that particular tidbit right near the bottom of the report. With regards to the private Facebook messages, it should have been typed in bold, upper case, and flashing fonts.

As for why this would even matter, CNET put it best by noting how disturbing it can be to realize that all of those messages sent with the carefree attitude of assuming they will remain private forever can be so easily exposed. This includes everything from ill-advised drunken requests to messages with potentially illicit media content.