Google will pull the plug on Google+ in April 2019 after a recent data breach

Google says it will pull the plug on Google+ sooner than originally intended. This is now happening in April next year and is in response to a newly revealed bug that made information from 52.5 million accounts temporarily available to third parties.

Google’s David Thacker reports that it was recently revealed that some users were affected by a November software update that contained a bug affecting the Google+ API. The company reports that the bug was resolved within a week and that no third party is known to have penetrated the systems. Google also states that app developers who inadvertently had access to the data probably were not aware of it and that there is no evidence that developers have abused the situation.

Thacker says the discovery of the new bug has prompted the shutdown of all Google+ APIs earlier than originally intended. This will happen within the next 90 days. In addition, the Google+ service for consumers will not disappear until August, but already in April. Thacker reports that Google is aware that this move will create complications for developers, but that protecting users’ privacy is more important.

It was already clear that Google would stop with Google+. The company made the announcement in early October after an investigation into third-party access to account information revealed a serious privacy bug. This vulnerability was not made public until months after its discovery.