Facebook: bug showed up Messenger chats from the distant past!

November 28, 2018

A strange bug emerged on Facebook in the past few hours, which found some users confronted with their distant past!

Specifically, people who used the popular social media platform reported that some old chat messages (some of which were recorded several years ago) resurfaced through Messenger tabs.

Thank you @facebook for sending me notifications of messages sent over a year old. Many were from the day my partner, Dean, passed away & now I've spent my evening in fear of what else I'm going to see.

- Adam (@adamadzp) 26 November 2018

The issue is particularly worrying for some users who have seen messages from loved ones who have died or from people they have not spoken to for a long time.

A Facebook spokesperson said the company had fixed the issue, stating: "A few hours ago, some people may have seen Facebook broadcasting older messages. The issue, caused by software updates, has been fully resolved. We are sorry for any inconvenience."

Was just on Facebook and old messages from people I haven't talked to in years were popping up like they were just sent to me

- Max LaFave (@MaxLaFave) 26 November 2018

It's not the first time Facebook has brought back memories that many of us would probably prefer to forget.

When the platform launched the "On This Day" feature last year, it was criticised for bringing up old photos and posts that may be hurtful or unwanted. Facebook later introduced the ability to edit posts and control the memories a user can view.