It’s been circulating recently a report on various platforms on Netflix and Facebook. Apparently both companies have a “special relationship” and Facebook has even reduced spending on its video service Facebook Watch to avoid competing with Netflix, one of Facebook’s major advertisers.
What’s most intriguing, however, is that the report states this Netflix had access to Meta’s “Inbox API” that’s what the streaming service offered “Programmatically accessing Facebook users’ private message inboxes.”
The report was amplified by Elon Musk, who responded to these claims with messages like “Wow” and “Yup.” This has led to a wave of outraged reactions that Facebook user data is being put up for sale, so to speak.
Meta, for its part, disputes the veracity of the document’s claims. Meta communications director Andy Stone reposted on X that it was not true that Netflix had access to users’ private messages.
“Incredibly wrong”wrote Stone in X. “Meta didn’t share people’s private messages with Netflix. The deal allowed people to message their friends on Facebook about what they were watching on Netflix directly from the Netflix app. “Such agreements are common in the industry.”
Shockingly untrue. Meta didn’t share people’s private messages with Netflix. The agreement allowed people to message their friends on Facebook about what they were watching on Netflix directly from the Netflix app. Such agreements are common in the industry.
—Andy Stone (@andymstone) April 2, 2024
The New York Times reported in 2018 that, according to documents available to it, Netflix and Spotify could read users’ private messages. Meta also denied these claims at the time.