This time, instead of exposing user data, a Facebook error deleted it. A previously unrevealed Facebook failure caused the live videos of some users to be deleted if they tried to post them in their story and in the news source after the transmission ended. Facebook did not say how many users or live broadcasts were affected, but said the error was intermittent and affected a minority of all live videos. Since the error was repaired and some of the videos were restored, some users are being notified that they apologize because their live videos have been permanently deleted.
The error raises the question of whether Facebook is a reliable place to share and store our memories. And important moments. In March, Facebook's Director of Operations, Sheryl Sandberg, told the congress about the Cambridge Analytica scandal that "we have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can not, then we do not deserve to take care of it." Between the misappropriation of the user's biographical data, the recent infringement that allowed the hackers to steal the access tokens that would allow them to take more than 50 million Facebook accounts, erroneous changes in the shared privacy settings of the users, and Now this, some users may come to the conclusion that Facebook no longer deserves your attention.
Facebook user Tommy Gabriel Sparandera provided TechCrunch with this screenshot showing Facebook's apology note on his profile. Read "Information about your live videos: Due to a technical problem, one or more of your live videos may have been deleted from your timeline and could not be restored. We understand how important your live videos can be and how they can be restored. We apologize for this. "
When TechCrunch asked Facebook about the problem, it confirmed the problem and provided this statement:" We recently discovered a technical problem that was removed live. " Some people We have solved this problem and we have restored many of these videos to people's timelines People whose videos we have not been able to restore will receive a notification on Facebook We know that saving memories on Facebook is important for people, and we apologize for this mistake. "
Facebook made a great effort to own the concept of "Live" in 2016 with TV ads, posters and more designed to outshine competitors like the Twitter Periscope. Eventually it was successful, with the popularity of Periscope fading, while one in five Facebook videos became live broadcasts. But in his campaign to win this market, he did not create adequate tools of security and moderation. That led to suicides and violence being transmitted to the hearings before the Facebook content police could remove the videos.
Today, most users do not go out frequently unless they are some kind of influence, public figure or journalist. When they see something important happening, Facebook has positioned itself as the way to transmit it. But if users can not be sure that Facebook will correctly store those videos, they could be convinced that it is not worthwhile becoming a cameraman instead of being a participant in the most interesting moments of life.