Facebook Glitch Causes Users to See Past Groups

ByCraig Haley

So we’ve had plenty of confused readers recently, and for good reason. The latest Facebook glitch has seen millions of users “re-subscribed” to groups of yonder. Groups that they left and forgotten about many years ago.

And we’ve had reports that even members that were kicked and banned from groups have been automatically re-subscribed because of this latest glitch.

So regardless of if you left voluntarily, were banned, or removed during the old group/new group switchover, it appears these groups of the past are – for the moment at least – reintroducing themselves into your imminent future.

And when we checked our own newsfeed, at the left-hand side underneath “Groups”, sure enough several ancient, long forgotten group names appeared, most of them mere dusty relics of a past Facebook, empty and disused, but curiously still there, still accessible.

Perhaps inevitably the glitch has gotten many Facebookers confused and angry, mainly because many users simply forgot what groups they joined (accidentally or otherwise) leading them to believe they’ve been automatically added to random groups without their permission. (worth remembering is that your friends can add you to Facebook groups)

However more serious security worries can arise from this glitch, especially concerning secret and closed groups, that may see past ousted members re-joining their locked corners of Facebook, and able to read information on such groups that may not have been intended for their eyes.

And to make matters worse it appears many users cannot leave these groups as the glitch gets even worse. Many Facebook users claim that when leaving they are getting error messages stating they are not members, yet Facebook is still acting as if they are still members, meaning leaving the group once and for all is not currently possible.

So what to do? No doubt Facebook are working on the problem, so if you’ve been subscribed to lots of groups you’re not interested in then it’s time to leave them by clicking the Cog icon and selecting “Leave Group” (see image). If you’re getting the errors we spoke of above then it’s just a case of silently cursing Facebook’s development team and waiting until they repair the problems.

If you’re an admin of a group just be aware that you may have many past members automatically re-joining, and you may need to remove content or members depending on who can see what. If you’re getting queries from confused members then pin an explanation at the top of the group, or share a link to this article. If you are a member or an admin of a closed group, just be aware that past members may have re-joined, so be careful what you say! You may need to be repeating the process of banning members once again.

Have you having problems? Let us know. Have you been able to leave groups without issues?

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