Instagram has fixed a bug that may have publicly exposed countless private Instagram photos on the web.
The bug as discovered by Quartz, meant that a photograph posted to Instagram when a user’s account is set to public—the default setting—would remain publicly viewable on the web, even if the user changed the account settings to private.
As per reports, the security flaw was only present in desktop browsers and has not affected Instagram’s iOS and Android apps.
Instagram reportedly fixed the problem in response to inquiries from Quartz. The photo-sharing service released the patch on Jan. 9 stating that the flaw is no longer accessible and that it is working to upgrade its security protocols to make sure that privacy of its users can be preserved.
“In response to feedback, we made an update so that if people change their profile from public to private, web links that are not shared on other services are only viewable to their followers on Instagram,” an Instagram spokesperson told HuffPost via email.
Instagram’s tricky sharing settings is said to be behind the privacy glitch.
