Facebook denies users private messages are showing up on timeline

If you have noticed private messages showing up on your Facebook timeline, you're not alone. But Facebook denies there is a privacy issue.

Facebook admits that some users have been complaining about private messages written in 2009 and earlier, showing up on their timeline as messages "posted by friends." The social network says it has "extensively investigated" the issue, adding "Our engineers investigated these reports and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users profile pages. Facebook is satisfied that there has been no breach of user privacy." A spokesman tells Tech Crunch, "Every report we’ve seen, we’ve gone back and checked. We haven’t seen one report that’s been confirmed (of a private message being exposed). A lot of the confusion is because before 2009 there were no likes and no comments on wall posts. People went back and forth with wall posts instead of having a conversation (in the comments of single wall post.) The issue has come up just as Facebook is about to roll out a new feature regarding searches. Facebook says it will now log every search you make in the top search bar, which you can then view by clicking on the Activity Log button. But the company insists the information will not be visible to other users. Still, there are concerns about the amount of data the social network is keeping on its users and how that data will be used.