Deleted pictures are on Facebook

If you deleted a Facebook picture, three years ago, then chances are that if you have a direct link to the image, you will still be able to access it. That's because Facebook is still trying to delete content off of its servers in a 'timely' fashion. Ars Technica released a report in 2009, stating that users who thought their photos were deleted, were actually shocked to find out that their pictures still existed on Facebook's servers. Users deleted pictures because of potential embarassment and consequences from either their families, friends or employers. However, if someone had a direct link to the .jpg file for the image, any of those people could see the pictures. At the time, Facebook said that they would work with their content delivery network to make sure that backup copies of the user deleted files were also deleted.

Ars Technica then followed it up with another report, more than a year later and that was when user stories were indicating that Facebook still hadn't fixed the problem. User stories, included a photo deleted in 2008 that was still visible in 2012 as well as photos deleted in 2009 and 2010. Facebook says that the systems they used for photo storage a few years ago did not delete pictures in a timely manner, even when the request was sent in by the user. They said that they are getting new systems, which would delete backup copies within 45 days of the user request to delete photos. Facebook spokesperson Frederic Wolens told Ars, "This process is nearly complete and there is only a very small percentage of user photos still on the old system awaiting migration, the URL you provided was stored on this legacy system. We expect this process to be completed within the next month or two, at which point we will verify the migration is complete and we will disable all the old content."