Backblaze, a cloud storage service provider, has accidentally added Facebook’s ad tracking code to its B2 Web UI, where only its users can browse through . This led to the files’ metadata like their names, sizes, and dates of modifications to be sent to Facebook servers for almost two weeks. After realizing the issue, Backblaze removed the code.
Files Metadata Shared With Facebook
Backblaze is a popular and one of the cheapest cloud storage services for businesses, where they can store an unlimited amount of data to their cloud servers for a fixed price. Earlier this week, few Backblaze users complained that their file metadata was being shared with Facebook.
While these complaints among users started to grow, Backblaze explained the incident. It said that Facebook’s ad tracking code (advertising pixel) was inadvertently applied to its B2 Web UI platform, which was used for users to check their files stored in the Backblaze’s cloud storage.
WTF? @backblaze ’s B2 web UI seems to submit all of the names and sizes of my files in my B2 bucket to facebook. I noticed because I saw “waiting for facebook .com” at the bottom while trying to download a backup… ?!?!?!? I even opted out of their tracking widget thing! pic.twitter.com/IkqkGNTkSi — Ben Cox (@Benjojo12) March 21, 2021
