Facebook’s Accidental Misogyny

Now this is an odd bug, if I’ve ever heard of one. Apparently, thousands of female Facebook users have been attempting to log on, only to find their accounts deactivated. Spooky. And this has been going on for a few days, too.

Said Facebook user Valerie L to Huffington Post of the bug: “It said my Gmail address was not associated with any Facebook account.” How… suspicious, considering the feud between Google and Facebook of late. “I just tried to get onto my Facebook account with my Gmail email address,” adds Marian B. “[It’s] the only one I have used since I got on Facebook …and it said I could not.”

In a statement to Boy Genius Report, Facebook has acknowledged the bug but fails to mention anything about Gmail, or women. Check it.

Earlier today, we discovered a bug in a system designed to detect and disable likely fake accounts. The bug, which was live for a short period of time, caused a very small percentage of Facebook accounts to be mistakenly disabled. Upon discovering the bug, we immediately worked to resolve it. It’s now been fixed, and we’re in the process of reactivating and notifying the people who were affected.

Bizarre. As if that wasn’t weird enough, Facebook is now asking that users affected by the bug submit government-issued ID to reclaim their accounts – a request users are not taking happily. There is a limit to how much we want to show you, Mark.

Below is the form for those affected by the bug, requesting the reactivation of their accounts. A little much, maybe?