Bug unblocked people from 800,000 users' list: Facebook
San Francisco, July 3 : In yet another privacy goof-up, Facebook has admitted that over 800,000 users were affected by a bug on its platform and Messenger that unblocked some people these users had blocked.
The bug was active between May 29 and June 5 -- and while someone who was unblocked could not see content shared with friends, they could have seen things posted to a wider audience, said Facebook.
"For example pictures shared with friends of friends. We know that the ability to block someone is important -- and we'd like to apologise and explain what happened," Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
When you block someone on Facebook, they cannot see things you post on your profile, start conversations with you on Messenger or add you as a friend. Blocking also automatically unfriends them if you were previously friends.
"In the case of this bug, it did not reinstate any friend connections that had been severed," Egan said.
Nearly 83 per cent of people affected by the bug had only one person they had blocked temporarily unblocked. Someone who was unblocked might have been able to contact people on Messenger who had blocked them, Facebook noted.
The company said the issue has now been fixed and everyone has been blocked again. "People who were affected will get a notification on Facebook encouraging them to check their blocked list," the company said.
Facebook has already been grappling with privacy issues like the Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving 87 million users and another bug that changed 14 million users' privacy setting defaults to public.
"While 800,000 people is just a tiny fraction of the 2.2 billion Facebook user base, that is still a sizable number of affected users who may have been subject to concerning episodes," The Verge reported.
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Parliament is supreme: Jagdeep Dhankhar takes aim at Top Court
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New Delhi (PTI): Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday asserted that every word spoken by a constitutional authority is guided by supreme national interest, as he hit out at his critics for questioning his remarks on a recent Supreme Court order.
Dhankhar also said that efforts of forces working against the country to tarnish and run down institutions should be neutralised, "be it that of the presidency".
Asserting that Parliament is supreme, Dhankhar said, "There is no visualisation in the Constitution of any authority above Parliament. Parliament is supreme... Let me tell you, it is as supreme as every individual in the country."
A top court bench recently prescribed a three-month timeline for the president of India to decide on Bills reserved by governors for her nod.
Reacting to the directive, Dhankhar had said that the judiciary cannot play the role of a "super Parliament" and get into the domain of the executive.
Addressing a Delhi University event, he said every word spoken by a constitutional functionary is guided by the supreme sublime interest of the nation.
"I find it conceivably intriguing that some have recently reflected that constitutional offices can be ceremonial or ornamental. Nothing can be far distanced from a wrong understanding of the role of everyone in this country -- constitutional functionary or a citizen," he said.
Stating that everyone of them has a role, he said, "The soul of democracy resides and pulsates in every citizen. Democracy will blossom. Its values will get heightened. When citizen is alert, citizen contributes and what a citizen contributes, there is no substitute for that."
Dhankhar also said that there is no visualisation in the Constitution of any authority above Parliament.
"Part of 'We the People' is an atom in democracy and that atom has atomic power. That atomic power is reflected during elections and that is why we are a democratic nation," Dhankhar, who is also the Rajya Sabha chairperson, underlined.
Voicing concern over the recent Supreme Court ruling prescribing a timeline for the president to decide on Bills, Dhankhar on Friday said India had not bargained for a democracy where judges will legislate and perform executive functions and act as a "super Parliament".
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had, for the first time, prescribed that the President should decide on the Bills reserved for her consideration by governors within three months from the date such reference is received.
"There is a directive to the president by a recent judgement... We never bargained for democracy for this day. President being called upon to decide in a time-bound manner, and if not, becomes law," Dhankhar said.
The vice-president was criticised for questioning the judiciary, with critics terming his remarks "unconstitutional".
In an apparent response to Dhankhar's "super Parliamet" remark, a top court bench on Monday said that "as it is, we are alleged of encroaching upon the parliamentary and executive functions".
Justice B R Gavai, who was heading a bench also comprising Justice Augustine George Masih, made a similar observation in another matter.
While one matter was over the recent violence in West Bengal during anti-Waqf law protests, the other plea sought a direction to the Centre to take appropriate steps to prohibit streaming of sexually explicit and pornographic content on OTT and social media platforms.
While hearing the plea on online content, Justice Gavai said, "Who can control it? It is for the Union (government) to frame a regulation in that regard."
Gavai is set to be the next chief justice of India.
In a related development, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said everything the apex court said was consistent with the country's constitutional values and guided by national interest.
Sibal's remarks in a post on X came soon after Dhankhar asserted that every word spoken by a constitutional functionary was guided by supreme national interest.
