When Facebook launched Messenger Kids two years ago, the tech giant promised that the new platform would provide a "private" medium that kids can use in order to chat with contacts that were approved by their parents. Since the Facebook platform only allows users that are at least 13-years-old, the Messenger Kids app specifically targets users below that age limit.
Recent reports claim that Facebook is informing an unknown number of parents about some "technical error" on its Messenger Kids app. This technical error allows a user to create a private group chat and invite one or more of their contacts into the group without these secondary contacts having approval from the user's parents.
Regarding this issue, Facebook told The Verge, "We recently notified some parents of Messenger Kids account users about a technical error that we detected affecting a small number of group chats. We turned off the affected chats and provided parents with additional resources on Messenger Kids and online safety."
The supposed technical error is believed to have stemmed from permissions that are to be applied when kids are in a group chat, rather than a direct chat with one of their approved friends. By joining these privately created group chats, a kid can come in contact with a user that was not approved by their parents. This scenario fails the whole purpose of Messenger Kids, which is to provide a safe and private medium for kids.
It is unknown as to how many kids were inadvertently invited into these group chats since Facebook has yet to make an official statement about this. While the company did confirm that it had already informed parents about this technical error, the tech giant did not say when it plans to create a patch in order to fix this bug.
Data and user privacy has always been a recurring issue for Facebook. The company has a long and storied history of misusing user information, as well as the fact that its platform has been used by many malicious users to mine user data and sell them to whoever needs them.
Recent reports claim that the Federal Telecommunications Commission is on the verge of slapping Facebook with a massive $5 billion penalty for not being able to uphold an earlier agreed-upon commitment to the regulator. The company is also facing the same issues in the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Facebook has yet to acknowledge this issue publicly.
