Facebook on Tuesday said it fixed a bug that allowed users to view private photos when reporting other snapshots to the social network.
Facebook allows its users to report photos that might violate the site's terms of service, but a feature that lets people tag multiple inappropriate photos at one time accidentally exposed other photos regardless of their privacy settings.
"The bug allowed anyone to view a limited number of another user's most recently uploaded photos irrespective of the privacy settings for these photos," Facebook said in a statement. "This was the result of one of our recent code pushes and was live for a limited period of time. Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm the bug has been fixed."
The glitch comes one week after the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Facebook that required the social network to be more transparent about its privacy policies.
According to the FTC, Facebook "deceived customers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public."
The issue dates back to 2009 when Facebook rolled out changes intended to provide users with more control over access to profile content. But that came as Facebook moved towards a more open format, expanding beyond the confines of Facebook.com. As a result, users were confused as to what information on their profiles was public and private.
The FTC deal says that Facebook made certain information, like Friends Lists and some photos, public without consent. "They didn't warn users that this change was coming, or get their approval in advance," the FTC said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed the settlement in a blog post, in which he acknowledged that Facebook has "made a bunch of mistakes" since its inception. He pointed to the company's Beacon program, as well as the "poor execution" surrounding the 2009 privacy changes.
In today's statement, Facebook said "the privacy of our user's data is a top priority for us, and we invest significant resources in protecting our site and the people who use it," pointing to its recent bug bounty program.