Facebook app on iPhone ‘secretly using camera’ while you scroll through feed
FACEBOOK has admitted that a bug is inadvertently accessing iPhone user cameras as they scroll through the app.
The bug only appears to affect iOS devices not Android and has not been fixed yet.
It was spotted by Joshua Maddux, owner of web design firm 95Visual.
He reported spotting the bug on Twitter and posted a video demonstrating the camera on his iPhone randomly opening when he used Facebook.
He : "Found a @facebook #security & #privacy issue. When the app is open it actively uses the camera.
"I found a bug in the app that lets you see the camera open behind your feed. Note that I had the camera pointed at the carpet."
Maddux claimed that he was able to confirm the bug across five different iPhones with the latest iOS 13.2.2 update.
A Facebook company spokesperson told us: "We recently discovered that version 244 of the Facebook iOS app would incorrectly launch in landscape mode.
"In fixing that issue last week in v246 (launched on November 8th) we inadvertently introduced a bug that caused the app to partially navigate to the camera screen adjacent to News Feed when users tapped on photos.
"We have seen no evidence of photos or videos being uploaded due to this bug. We’re submitting the fix for this to Apple today."
There is reportedly no indication that any camera data is being transferred to Facebook.
However, if you are concerned then you can revoke camera access to the Facebook app via Settings on your iPhone.
Once an update is available you can give camera access back to the app.
Facebook's biggest cyber-security mistakes
Here's some of the major times Facebook let us down...
- In 2007, Facebook's first targetted advertising product, Beacon, caused outrage because there was initally no opt-in option about the kinds of information users wanted to share
- In 2009, a Federal Trade Commission investigation was triggered because Facebook users complained that the new privacy tools were too confusing and pushed users to make more of their personal information public
- In 2010, it was revealed that advertisers were using a privacy loophole to retrieve revealing personal information about Facebook users and the company had to change its software
- In 2011, the FTC charged Facebook with lying to customers about how their information could be kept private but making it public anyway
- 2018 saw Facebook's biggest privacy scandal to date with reports that Cambridge Analytica misused user data and Facebook had to admit that it had failed to protect its users
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In other news, Android users are being warned about 15 popular antivirus apps that allow hackers to ‘secretly use your phone’.
Americans mysteriously received texts from ‘dead husbands, pals and parents’ in bizarre nationwide phone bug.
And, if you have an iPhone, you should update to the new iOS 13.2.2 to boost your phone signal and app loading times.
Have you noticed anything unusual going on with your Facebook? Let us know in the comments...
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