Social media users are reporting a glitch in the WhatsApp and Facebook apps due to which the date of “Jan 1970” is appearing within chats and on posts.
Users of WhatsApp and Facebook shared images that show they received missed calls on “1 Jan 1970”. They were wondering why is this happening.
“Does anyone know why is this happening in WhatsApp calling?? It’s been the second time that date appeared in two different chats,” one user posted in a Facebook tech group.
In another tech forum, a WhatsApp response was shared in which the messaging app said it was aware of the issue and “working on fixing it in a future update”.
Another responded to it, saying that WhatsApp is aware of the issue and it is a “Linux bug based on epoch time”.
However, there is no statement from Facebook, which also owns WhatsApp, over the matter putting the users in a jeopardy regarding the security of their data.
This is not the first time that Facebook experienced a timestamp glitch. In 2015, the social media giant faced a similar problem when its users received notifications regarding friendships.
According to a Gizmodo report, it was s most likely due to an issue with Unix time. This system counts the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970. So, there’s a good chance that an error might’ve restarted the clock on this particular Facebook feature. (That’s almost exactly 46 years ago.)