Facebook Bug Accidentally Declares Millions Dead Including Founder Mark Zuckerberg
Just imagine reading news that declares you ‘dead’ despite being you alive?
That’s what happened when Facebook itself started declaring people dead when in fact they are not. The social media giant acknowledged the problem after fixing it on Friday saying that there was a “terrible error”. Some two million wayward memorials were posted on profile pages reported the media.
“For a brief period today, a message meant for memorialised profiles was mistakenly posted to other accounts,” a Facebook spokesperson told Wall Street Journal.
“This was a terrible error that we have now fixed.”
Some people, including verified users, reported seeing memorial banners at the top of the page.
The problem: the person memorialized wasn’t actually dead.
“We hope people who love [Facebook user] will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate [his or her] life,” the banner read.
The switch to memorial pages left users shocked and confused.
“Having a tough day today, but not dead, just in case Facebook tries to claim that I am,” one user posted.
“I’m still alive at the moment!” another person exclaimed.
In a message fired off at Twitter, Search Engine Land editor Danny Sullivan said, “Damn. I should have used Facebook Live to show how I was Facebook Dead.”
Even very-much-alive Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg fell victim to the apparent bug.
A statement reading: “We hope people who love Mark will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate his life,” appeared on Mark Zuckerberg’s profile before being corrected.
Several users who experienced the glitch said the “Memorial” banner appeared automatically on their account, without triggering any notification, and disappeared minutes later. Memoralized accounts allow users to choose whether they would like their profile to change if they die. Their profile will continue to exist but only as a memorial, with no log on available.
