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Facebook Bug Prevented Users From Deleting Their Accounts (venturebeat.com)

Emil Protalinski, reporting for VentureBeat: Until just a few days ago, some Facebook users could not delete their accounts -- the option to do so simply didn't work. After VentureBeat reached out to Facebook regarding the issue, an engineer was able to squash the bug.

Two weeks ago, I got an email from a VentureBeat reader who couldn't delete his Facebook account. He claimed there were others also having issues -- no matter what they tried, they simply could not delete Facebook. I didn't believe him at first. [...] I did my due diligence. The least I could do was help him delete his account. Upon request, the reader was gracious enough to let me log into his Facebook account so I could see for myself. No matter what I tried, and regardless of which browser I used, the Facebook help page for deleting your account would not load when logged into his account.
The reporter contacted a Facebook spokesperson, who after looking into the matter concluded that a bug prevented some people with "a large number of posts" from deleting their accounts. Facebook says it has resolved the issue.

49 comments

  1. Don't you mean... by ChodaBoyUSA · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So called "bug"?

    1. Re:Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU, APK and your Nazi beer hall buddies need to see a procologist.

    2. Re:Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      procologist

      You need to see a dictionary.

    3. Re:Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Asshole doctor is easier to spell.

    4. Re: Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The ass-to-mouth doctor is the more fun doctor.

    5. Re:Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That was not a bug...that was a feature! I have read many times from different sources that even if you delete your Fakebook account, your data is not deleted, but continues to be sold to whomever will pay. Fakebook even attempts to collect data on people who are not signed up for a Fakebook account.

    6. Re:Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU, APK and your Nazi beer hall buddies need to see a procologist.

      .

      Do your parents know they are responsible for bringing a piece of shit like you into the world ?

      I bet your parents are pieces of shit too. They probably are very proud of you, but that's because they have low standards.

    7. Re:Don't you mean... by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      There was a bug, just not the bug you are looking for, heh, heh. The bug was of course letting you see what was really going on. Delete your account, yeah sure, account not deleted because shh, it never is. So delete your account, yeah sure, access to your account denied to you and from your perspective deleted but of course still entirely intact, just not accessible by you. That was of course the bug, account still not deleted but the forget to make it inaccessible to outside users. Still alive and well and still mining your privacy.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    8. Re:Don't you mean... by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      PS forgot to add this in, prior to deleting a social media account, contaminate it by putting in false data, everywhere you can and then deleting it or in reality make it inaccessible by you.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    9. Re: Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The ass-to-mouth doctor is the more fun doctor.

      nígger dick to asshole is the most fun of all!! Oh man, you never felt so FULFILLED!!

    10. Re:Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great idea except I am certain they use versioning and version control, so the unedited versions remain in their databases.

  2. "Bug" there's a sucker born every minute. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And sometimes they have "security bugs" for brief times where third parties have access to information they should not. Wow! Such a surprise that happens!

  3. "Delete" by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Nobody "deletes" anyway ... disk space is way cheaper than data loss.

    UPDATE users SET deletedflag = 1

    Whether that works or not, your records are still there ...

    1. Re:"Delete" by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Gawd...I'd love to run that on their DBs

      it would all be over in mere minutes.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:"Delete" by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Truth. Even if something is deleted, it's still in the backups, and the big boys never delete backups.

    3. Re:"Delete" by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Funny
      Try logging in with the password:

      '; UPDATE users SET deletedflag = 1; --

      and let us know what happens.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re:"Delete" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everything is backed up on blueray discs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oU7f4x16b0

    5. Re:"Delete" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm, obviously. Since at any time you can just log back in and your account reactivates.

    6. Re:"Delete" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not after a few weeks. I've tried it.

    7. Re:"Delete" by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Little Bobby Tables, is that you?

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    8. Re:"Delete" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...I leave my account "deleted" for months at a time.

    9. Re:"Delete" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just need to restore it from backups first. Means it has been removed from the online source not the offline.

  4. Bug? by Zorro · · Score: 2

    You mean FEATURE!

    1. Re:Bug? by Desler · · Score: 2

      The bug is that someone noticed that nothing was being deleted.

  5. Wikipedia dosen't delete accounts either by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You can only get renamed and locked under right to vanish. (but Checkuser can unmask you). I am a former contributor who still gets harassed by admins from Wikipedia due to my POV.

  6. corepirate nazi megasloth should be paying us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    instead we pay for obnoxious amounts of crappy ADs & constant repetitive jaded disinformation.. cease fire stand down.. soon it will be summer all year round?

  7. How adorable, he thought it was a 'bug'! by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

    It's Zuckerbook, fooling you into believing your account is 'deleted' when it's not is a FEATURE not a BUG, that way Zuckerbook can keep your data and continue to make more money off it.

    1. Re:How adorable, he thought it was a 'bug'! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...but he personally takes complete responsibility and is very, very sorry. (He should copyright that phrase. He uses it so much.)

  8. Re:Hi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just like everyone else on the internet.

  9. Was that a bug or a feature? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2

    Given Facebook's behavior to date, I'd say it loos more like an intended feature. That it affected only a subset of people, well, that's the bug.

  10. Come on, is it really deleted anyway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can you trust a site like Facebook to really delete your account??

  11. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. by Desler · · Score: 1

    The Zuck is the most trustworthy person to ever live.

    1. Re: Yes, I'm being sarcastic. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope.. that would be the Donald

  12. I had the issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I had 0 posts and yet I could not delete so TFA is wrong to say it only happen to users with large number of posts.

    Also Facebook after not deleting sent me a few emails to say I've deactivated my account.

    Fuck facebook

    1. Re: I had the issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry the emails say I reactivated (stupid autocorrect) my account

    2. Re: I had the issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you login during the "repent period", it reactivates the account. Are you sure your facebook app or whatsapp or other app didn't auto login? Atleast i remember it does that. I deleted my account about 10 years ago.

    3. Re: I had the issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you login during the "repent period", it reactivates the account. Are you sure your facebook app or whatsapp or other app didn't auto login? Atleast i remember it does that. I deleted my account about 10 years ago.

      Does Facebook itself seriously (officially) call it a "repent period"? Never used Facebook so I don't personally know.

      If so, that about sums up their viewpoint. While it may be technically correct to use the denotation of "repent" as in "reconsider" or "turn away from [a prior course of action]" they would have to know damned well that this is a loaded word with strong connotations most often associated with sins against one's concept of God and the renewed decision to do right by one's idea of what God wants.

      Marketers have done far too much research, are too well funded, and are (whether I like it or not) far too clever. Talent and cleverness are commodities that can be purchased on the open market. Facebook is a massive corporation. It just can't be accidental that they chose this particular wording.

  13. It's not a bug, it's a feature! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject

  14. Call FaceBook technical support by MobyDisk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The real take-away here is that lots of people are relying on products for which there is no technical support. Bear that in mind next time you rely upon an advertising-supported service.

  15. Ebay has the same bug by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ive been trying for years to get them to close my account.

    Apparently its impossible to close an ebay account.... even when its been hacked & used for nefarious purposes.

  16. Yeah... a bug. by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 2

    Sure. A bug. Yeah. Oops. Totally an entirely not at all on-purpose, completely innocent accident that just... so... HAPPENS to be of benefit to Facebook and the detriment of a would-be ex-user.

    Total coincidence. Sure. Not incompetence or deliberate action. Nooo... it woul not , COULD not be that.

    --
    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
  17. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People think the can actually delete their data from Facebook?

    Fuck'n hilarious, even is you delete you account, they're still collecting data about you--bitch. And you aren't going to stop it, because it isn't your data, they're getting it from everyone you know, everyone who interacts with you, and other sites you interact with. At least if you have an account you can at least groom your profile a bit.

  18. Cute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I "deleted" my Facebook account years ago (around about 2009). A couple of months ago I was convinced by family to start it up again and, lo and behold, my "new" account had all of my old info in it.

  19. Ask Zuckie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They just believe him.
    Those miserable...

  20. Bugs are your friends by CustomSolvers2 · · Score: 1

    Something like "It has a bug" can be used to describe virtually any programming-related problem like when the given piece of software:
    - doesn't deliver the expected results under very specific conditions.
    - completely ignores a relevant use case.
    - breaks for no clear reason.
    - has a somehow shady feature.
    - has been hacked in the most public and shameful way.

    A bug might be provoked by a punctual mistake only affecting a small part of the functionalities or by a horrendous code not meeting the most basic quality standards. It might also be the go-to expression of a C-level manager not knowing too well what is going on or the main idea of the PR announcement trying to justify whatever catastrophe.

    I propose to start using this magical work in other contexts. Some examples: "I don't have my homework because of a bug", "I will be a bit late today because we are dealing with a huge bug in the office" or "It isn't you, it is a bug.". LOL.

    --
    Custom Solvers 2.0 = Alvaro Carballo Garcia = varocarbas.
  21. ...simply could not delete Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now that would be a nice bug, try to delete your Facbook account and *poof*, Facebook is gone.