The Facebook on Thursday, 7 June, revealed that about 14 million of its users from around the world had their default "sharing" setting for their posts to ‘public’ for a period of four days in May 2018.
The bug occurred while Facebook was testing a new feature, CNN Money reported. The controversy surfaces at a time when the largest social media platform is already trying hard to ward off the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The company said that it had fixed the bug which is said to have influenced the settings from 14 May to 18 May.
The company said the bug automatically suggested that users make new posts public, even if they had previously restricted to "friends only" or another private setting.
Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, says the bug did not affect past posts. She added that Facebook is notifying users who posted publicly during the time the bug was active to review their posts, Associated Press reported.
The news follows a recent furor over Facebook's sharing of user data with device makers, including China's Huawei.
(With inputs from Associated Press)
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