Facebook Finally Deletes Embarrassing Photos

By Barbara E. Hernandez

| Thursday, Aug 16, 2012 | Updated 10:09 AM PDT

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With Facebook's new photo-delete policy, there's a better chance you won't get tagged in a photo -- and then dinged in a job interview.

Facebook has a new photo storage system that means deleted user photos really are gone -- even off of the social network's servers.

An experiment in 2009 showed that photos deleted on social media sometimes took months and even years to disappear from the Internet, according to Ars Technica. Facebook was by far the longest, with some of the photos not disappearing for three years.

But in February of this year, the company finally admitted . . . that not all photos were deleted within a reasonable amount of time. . . . "The systems we used for photo storage a few years ago did not always delete images from content delivery networks in a reasonable period of time even though they were immediately removed from the site," Facebook spokesperson Frederic Wolens told Ars in February. "We have been working hard to move our photo storage to newer systems which do ensure photos are fully deleted."

Now Facebook's deleting seems to occur within a few days, and Wolens gave an almost-guarantee that the social network will take them down within 30 days. So no drunken college escapades will now ruin your chances for that job with the FBI.

Previously, Facebook was a private company and could have a more "take it or leave it" attitude, but now that it's public it has to please shareholders and users alike. We're not sure we're cynical enough to believe that may be the reason for Facebook's sudden quick turnaround of users' deleted photographs, but it sure is helpful now that the company's every move is being watched.

Related Topics Facebook, photos, users, IPO

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