Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has been found using a secret tool that can delete messages sent by executives from the inboxes of recipients.
Discovered by TechCrunch, the secret tool was first introduced after the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, when a data breach at the studio resulted in several controversial and important email histories being leaked.
“After Sony Pictures’ emails were hacked in 2014 we made a number of changes to protect our executives’ communications,” said the social media giant.
“These included limiting the retention period for Mark’s messages in Messenger. We did so in full compliance with our legal obligations to preserve messages.”
Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, made her own apology for the tool that was being used by Facebook’s top executives.
“We made mistakes and I own them and they are on me,” she told the Financial Times. “There are operational things that we need to change in this company and we are changing them. We have to learn from our mistakes and we need to take action.”
These latest revelations into the tech giant come amid a turbulent time for Facebook, which is under scrutiny following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The revelations have caused Facebook shares to tank, with its market value plummeted by more than $40 billion in just two days at the end of March.
Shares in the group are on the rise, however, after Zuckerberg said the social network had not felt a meaningful impact on usage or ad sales following the data privacy scandal.
According to Evercore ISI, monthly downloads in Facebook have improved on a monthly basis both in the United States and globally.
Shares in the group rose as much as 4.2 percent on Thursday.