Google+ Is Shutting Down Three Months Early After New Privacy Bug

In October, Google announced it was shutting down Google+ after a security flaw exposed users’ personal data via the official Google+ APIs. The company said it will be shutting down the service by August 2019 as a result, and it’s now speeding things up after another new security flaw.

Google says the company found a bug on a Google+ API that affected 52.5 million users, exposing their personal information like their email address, name, age, occupation, etc. to third-party developers. The bug was apparently only live for six days, and Google claims that developers with access to the API weren’t aware of it or misused the user data, which is certainly a good thing. But Google says it will still notify affected users about the bug.

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Google is expected to shut down Google+ APIs in the next 90 days, and it will now be shutting down the service itself much earlier than expected. Originally expected to shut down in August 2019, the service will now shut down in April 2019 instead. Let’s just hope there aren’t any more of these flaws before April 2019.

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Conversation 8 comments

  • maethorechannen

    Premium Member
    10 December, 2018 - 1:29 pm

    <p>Has Google said what the replacement for Android app beta communities will be? Because every beta app I'm using has so far required joining a G+ community.</p>

  • jaredthegeek

    Premium Member
    10 December, 2018 - 3:28 pm

    <p>i spoke to both users and they are just distraught.</p>

    • topbesttools

      14 December, 2018 - 4:49 am

      <blockquote><a href="#380572"><em>In reply to jaredthegeek:</em></a><em> yup!</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • dontbe evil

    10 December, 2018 - 11:38 pm

    <p>let's try again, some comments are not loved here:</p><p><br></p><p>Google security … ROTFL</p>

  • jules75

    11 December, 2018 - 9:17 am

    <p>I'll miss Google+. I found it a great way to aggregate all the photography news I wanted to see. For this type of thing it was way better than Facebook. </p><p><br></p><p>Sad, but not unexpected.</p>

  • topbesttools

    14 December, 2018 - 4:48 am

    <p>I miss google+ too. i will miss my google plus profile. <em>Google</em> should have changed its human verification <em>recaptcha</em> and instead shut down that <a href="https://www.topbesttools.com/verify-human/&quot; target="_blank"> i am not a robot</a> page.</p><p>wish to get some good alternatives!</p>

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