Messages Sent By Zuckerberg Deleted From Users’ Inboxes

• Facebook deleted all messages that were sent by Zuckerberg or any other top executive from users' inboxes.
• The company cites the action was taken in "full compliance with our[company's] legal obligations to preserve messages."
• This incident is likely to pose further questions of trust on the company which recently compromised user data of over 87 million users (previously thought to be 50 million) in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

With the recent Cambridge Analytica sandal in light, Facebook’s privacy measures to protect user data have come under question. But when it comes to Mark Zuckerberg, company CEO, along with other employees, the platform implements a rather strong privacy standard.

As reported by TechCrunch this Thursday, Facebook has deleted all messages sent by Zuckerberg and other company executives from recipients’ inboxes. There is an option which allows messages within a conversation to be deleted. However, if the sender wishes to delete certain messages, it will not affect the receiver's end. But in the current situation, users who previously conversed with Zuckerberg or any other top company executive are no longer able to see any messages received from them.

Facebook also supports a feature which allows users to download a file that holds all the data the social network has stored about that individual. For users whose data were compromised in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, they too can see all the information which was used to target ads at them. However, TechCrunch reported that the messages were deleted from here as well. Furthermore, email receipts of the message exchanges are currently showing only one side of the conversation.

Image Courtesy of Letzgro

In response to why these current actions were taken, Facebook replied, “After Sony Pictures’ emails were hacked in 2014 we made a number of changes to protect our executives’ communications. [...] These included limiting the retention period for Mark's messages in Messenger. We did so in full compliance with our legal obligations to preserve messages.”

Currently, it is not known what was in the conversation that was actually removed. However, some messages do remain with users. For example, there is a message from Zuckerberg (then 19 years old) citing users to be “dumb f**ks” for giving him their data. Although the company CEO has apologized for the comment, the current message deletion poses another question on whether or not the platform is to be trusted.

This incident coupled with the recent enlightenment of the Cambridge Analytica scandal leaves the social media company at yet another tight spot. In the upcoming days, Mark Zuckerberg is expected to answer to the Senate and House committees. There the company might have to face questions involving all these incidents.