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Facebook Messenger Kids data breach

Date: 24.07.2019

Responsible body: Facebook

Type of data breach: a technical error allowed chatting with strangers

Facebook's chat app "Messenger Kids" aims to ensure that children can only interact with users who have also been approved by their parents. Due to a technical error, this control function could be circumvented. This is because children were able to enter a group chat in which there were users who had not been approved by their parents. Facebook closed the affected group chats and informed the users. It is not known how long the bug was present in Facebook Messenger Kids. The group chat function within Messenger Kids has been around since December 2017.

Source: heise

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