Don’t blame us for using your phone’s camera secretly, says Facebook

Online privacy seems like a myth and more so when it comes to Facebook. A user named Joshua Maddux has exposed that the Facebook app for iPhones remain active in the background and continues to use the camera secretly. While there is no evidence yet as to whether the Facebook app clicks photos or records a video in the background, Maddux posted a video to prove that the camera remains active in the background. What’s worrying here is that if the camera is active, the app can easily have access to the microphone as well.
Maddux confirmed that the presence of bug “across 5 different iPhones all running 13.2.2.” “I will note that iPhones running iOS 12 don’t show the camera (not to say that it’s not being used),” he added. Apart from the privacy risks, the active camera will obviously take a toll on the battery life.
This alarming tweet went viral soon and while Facebook officially did not comment on it, the company’s vice president of Integrity Guy Rosen responded. He conveniently put the blame on a bug that may have caused the issue.