Facebook put “in hand” contacts of its 1.5 million users

Facebook “mistakenly” put “in hand” email contacts of its 1.5 million users.

As the BBC reports, data leakage occurred through an application used to identify new members of the social media. According to the procedure, Facebook asked its new users to give their e-mail account password to connect, while creating a copy of the user’s contacts, but without knowing it. After revealing the issue, Facebook announced that it would stop this practice for new users, ending the copying of their contacts.

Always according to Facebook, all these contacts that were acquired by the social media tool without the user’s knowledge will be deleted. According to Bussines Insider, Facebook has begun to grab the contacts of its new users since May 2016. Prior to that date, Facebook asked new users if they wanted to confirm their identification via their email account. At the same time, they could upload their contacts, but only if they wished.

This is the latest in a series of cases in which Facebook has been found accused of how it manages the privacy of its billions of users.