Facebook appears to have dragged a few other big tech companies into the fray, according to a new report from the New York Times . The report alleged that Facebook gave several tech companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Netflix , more access to users’ personal data than has ever been publicly disclosed (despite the fact that it has claimed for years that it never sold user data). That access included allowing Spotify and Netflix to read Facebook users’ private messages, according to the Times.
Now, Netflix’s official Twitter account is trying to set things straight, responding to the New York Times story with a tweet. The response it gave was this: “Netflix has not requested and has never had access to anyone’s private messages. We are not the type to go into your DMs.”
While Netflix was clearly trying to make fun of the situation, it was probably an unfortunate choice by the company, considering it's embroiled in a privacy scandal. It's understandable that Twitter users weren't impressed with this rather tasteless tweet.
A Netflix spokesperson sent out a more official statement, explaining that the company's partnership with Facebook was short-lived:
“Over the years, we’ve tried a number of ways to make Netflix more accessible to the public. One example of this was a feature we launched in 2014 that allowed members to recommend TV shows and movies to their Facebook friends through Messenger or Netflix. It never got the recognition we wanted, so we ended the feature in 2015. At no time did we access Facebook users’ private messages, and we never asked for the ability to do so.”
Now it's up to users to decide whether to believe it or not.
