Facebook: deleted photos remain in cache

With the Facebook social network, photos that have been deleted can still be unearthed.

This is a problem that Ars Technica noticed for the first time in 2009 and which still hasn’t been completely corrected. Users rights may become complicated with Facebook as a photo deleted from an account can still be found sleeping on the companies servers, with it being accessible via a direct link.

Such photos are remaining on CDN servers (Content Delivery Network) for too long as backup copies. With the right URL pointing to the cache, they can still be unearthed.

When this issue was reported to Facebook, it was declared that within a short delay the files would be removed from the cache following their deletion from the operational site. Removal from the operational site is immediate. The problem is that three year later, Ars Technica has noticed that things have still not been fixed.

In an attempt at explaining, a Facebook spokesperson indicated once again that a new system was being put into place to ensure that files be deleted from the CDN within a maximum period of 45 days. The migration hasn’t yet been completed to this new system though with a "very small percentage of user photos" still being on the old system.

Ars Technical is therefore unlucky… with his photos surely falling within this small percentage. The migration could still take a few months to complete. Ars Technica wants to see it before he believes it.