Facebook is in the news again for another privacy-related hiccup. As initially disclosed by Twitter user Neo QA, the social network’s official app would apparently activate users’ cameras while they were browsing the social network. This can be proven by changing a video to full-screen view and then returning it to a window, which reveals the camera feed in the background on the very left.
Facebook app on iOS 13.2.2 opens my phone’s rear camera when I open a profile photo swipe down to return (look at the little slit on the left of the video). Is this an app bug or an iOS bug?? @facebook @AppleSupport pic.twitter.com/WlhSXZulqx
— Daryl Lasafin (@dzlasafin) November 10, 2019
Facebook’s reputation on privacy is so worrying that many people still believe the social network is secretly recording people through their microphones. The camera bug won’t do the company any favors in dispelling that myth. While Facebook’s app users do give the company permission to use their camera and microphone, there’s no reason it needs to be activated while a person is simply scrolling through the feed or watching a video.