Hulu halts Facebook Connect after exposing user data

Updated. Hulu’s Facebook Connect integration apparently isn’t going as planned. The ability to log in is offline as of this writing, with many people reporting issues with the sign-in option earlier today. According to some, those issues led some users to be signed in to other people’s Hulu accounts, exposing their user account data in the process.

For instance, one reader explained his experience by email:

“First time I tried it was accessing my correct facebook profile, but I didn’t want it to put my last name on my hulu account and update my profile pic, so I hit cancel. When I was navigated back to hulu’s home page, I was logged in under Eddie T.’s account. I went to his profile and as soon as I realized I was seeing his personal info, I shut the browser (as I hoped someone do if they found themself in my account!)”

The reader didn’t take a screenshot then, but he tried logging in a third, at which point, he was offered the option of merging his Hulu account with the Facebook account of someone named Alexandria. That’s when he snapped this screenshot:

It’s issues like these that have apparently prompted Hulu to discontinue Facebook Connect for the time being, while it sorts the whole thing out. We’ve tried to login through Facebook Connect on multiple browsers with little success.

We’ve reached out to Hulu, and will update this post when we get an official comment back.

Update: Mike Flacy at Audio Video Revolution has a detailed report — and screenshots! — of his experience logged in as a Hulu employee using Facebook Connect.

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