Netflix Denies It Read Users Messages After Revelations That Facebook Allowed It
After it was revealed that Facebook potentially gave companies much more access to users data than first thought, Netflix has responded. They now insist that they never accessed users Facebook messages.
According to a recent report by the New York Times, it is believed that Facebook gives users’ details to companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, and Spotify. Included in this data sharing is access to Facebook users private messages. And, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, these companies not only had access to users’ messages, but they also had the ability to write new messages and delete old ones.
In addition, it is believed that “Microsoft Bing could see all Facebook users’ friends without their consent and Amazon could gain access to users’ names and contact information through their friends,” according to IGN.
Netflix has now come forward, via their official Twitter account, to confirm that they never accessed Facebook users’ private messages.
“Netflix never asked for, or accessed, anyone’s private messages,” the tweet read in response to the expose by the New York Times. “We’re not the type to slide into your DMs.”
Netflix said it didn’t have access to Facebook messages, but Facebook documents show Netflix had the ability to do just that. Netflix then acknowledged that it did access personal messages, but only for sending and receiving movie and TV recommendations. https://t.co/d1UjN1nMj3 pic.twitter.com/iixiUa9O8Y
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 20, 2018
Vulture has reached out to Netflix, asking if this is actually an official statement from Netflix on the matter. A representative from Netflix responded by issuing the following to Vulture.
“Over the years we have tried various ways to make Netflix more social. One example of this was a feature we launched in 2014 that enabled members to recommend TV shows and movies to their Facebook friends via Messenger or Netflix. It was never that popular so we shut the feature down in 2015. At no time did we access people’s private messages on Facebook, or ask for the ability to do so.”
The access granted to Netflix and other companies is believed to have gone as far back as 2010. However, in 2018, this access was believed to have been revoked. In all, it is believed that 150 companies were granted this permission by Facebook.
Facebook responded to the claims being made by the New York Times by saying that the access granted to those companies was actually allowed by Facebook’s users.
“To be clear: none of these partnerships or features gave companies access to information without people’s permission, nor did they violate our 2012 settlement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission),” Facebook said in a post on the matter.
It was also stated that Facebook had shut down its “instant personalization” process in 2014. This reportedly put a stop to companies accessing public information shared by Facebook users. However, “software components for the service were left in place after it shut down, potentially allowing developers to continue accessing users’ personal information,” according to CNBC.
