In what is raising questions over possible breach of user trust, people have reported that messages received from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have disappeared from their Facebook inboxes, according to a media report.
A report in technology news site TechCrunch said that while one cannot remove Facebook messages from the inboxes of people one sents them to, Facebook has done so for Zuckerberg and other executives.
TechCrunch said that three sources have confirmed to it that old Facebook messages they received from Zuckerberg have disappeared from their Facebook inboxes, "while their own replies to him conspicuously remain."
It said an email receipt of a Facebook message from 2010 reviewed by TechCrunch proves Zuckerberg sent people messages that no longer appear in their Facebook chat logs or in the files available from Facebook's Download Your Information tool.
TechCrunch said Facebook responded to the situation, saying such an action is taken for the purpose of corporate security.
"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.
TechCrunch added that Facebook never publicly disclosed the removal of messages from users' inboxes, nor privately informed the recipients. "That raises the question of whether this was a breach of user trust. When asked that question directly over Messenger, Zuckerberg declined to provide a statement," the news portal said in its report.
TechCrunch said that a Facebook spokesperson confirmed to it that users can only delete messages their own inboxes, and that they would still show up in the recipient's thread - meaning that there appears to be no retention period for normal users' messages. However this means that "Zuckerberg and other executives received special treatment in being able to pull back previously sent messages," it said.
The report added that Facebook chats sent by Zuckerberg from several years ago or older were missing from the inboxes of both former employees and non-employees.
The social networking site and its founder are facing widespread criticism in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal after it emerged that the firm gained access to millions of Facebook users without their consent.
"Facebook's power to tamper with users' private message threads could alarm some. The issue is amplified by the fact that Facebook Messenger now has 1.3 billion users, making it one of the most popular communication utilities in the world," TechCrunch said.
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