Terrifying Google Hangouts Error Sent Messages To Wrong People

Terrifying Google Glitch Sent Your Messages To The Wrong People
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 15: Vic Gundotra, Google senior vice president of engineering, announces 'hangouts' for Google+ as he speaks during the opening keynote at the Google I/O developers conference at the Moscone Center on May 15, 2013 in San Francisco, California. Thousands are expected to attend the 2013 Google I/O developers conference that runs through May 17. At the close of the markets today Google shares were at all-time record high at $916 a share, up 3.3 percent. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 15: Vic Gundotra, Google senior vice president of engineering, announces 'hangouts' for Google+ as he speaks during the opening keynote at the Google I/O developers conference at the Moscone Center on May 15, 2013 in San Francisco, California. Thousands are expected to attend the 2013 Google I/O developers conference that runs through May 17. At the close of the markets today Google shares were at all-time record high at $916 a share, up 3.3 percent. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Next time you hit up Google Hangouts to talk behind your friend's back, think again.

Earlier Thursday morning, multiple people reported on a Google product forum that their messages on Google Hangouts were delivered to wrong recipients. After occurring for several hours, the error has been resolved, the company says.

"There was an issue today that affected some people using Google’s instant messaging services," a Google spokesperson said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "We have since identified the problem, stopped it from recurring, and are currently applying a fix. We're very sorry to anyone affected."

The error appears to be a glitch in the software and no pattern had developed in terms of whom the problem affected and when it occured, ZDNet reports.

A quick look at Twitter confirms that several people have experienced the problem:

I got google talk/hangout messages I wasn't suppose to get. Nasty bug! http://t.co/k2hSu6nY1M

— JHaals (@JHaals) September 26, 2013

The error makes for a huge privacy concern for users of Google Hangouts, the messaging service that merged together Google Talk, Google+ Messenger and Google+'s video-conferencing service earlier this year. The inadvertent disclosure of personal messages to unintended recipients is reminisce of the privacy lapse in Google Buzz, a now-discontinued Google social network, that by default publicly disclosed a list of all the Gmail contacts one emailed most frequently.

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