Instagram Bug Retained Deleted Photos and Messages on Its Servers

Aug. 14, 2020

If you have ever deleted a direct message onInstagram, or a photo you posted, chances are you were thinking it’s gone off Instagram’s servers as well. As it turns out, a bug in Instagram was retaining deleted messages and photos even after they were deleted by the users.

The bug was found out by security researcher Saugat Pokharel. Pokharel used Instagram’s built-in data download feature to download a copy of his data from the company. However, he noticed that his data contained private direct messages and photos that he had deleted from his end over a year ago.

It’s not uncommon for companies to store deleted data for a short period of time on its servers. In fact, Instagram says that it takes the company up to 90 days to remove deleted items from its servers. However, that didn’t appear to be the case for the security researcher who was able to find photos and messages deleted over a year ago.