Google is shutting down it's Google+ (Google Plus) social networking site.
Google is shutting down its social networking site after "reportedly failing to publicly disclose a security bug affecting hundreds of thousands of accounts on the service," (according to CNN).
The "security bug" is reportedly far-reaching. According to The Washington Post, "Google is shutting down its long-shunned Plus social network for consumers, following its disclosure of a flaw discovered in March that could have exposed some personal information of up to 500,000 people."
The Verge blamed the closure on "the company [Google] reportedly fear[ing] regulatory scrutiny."
The story was originally reported in the Wall Street Journal in advance of a blog post from Google announcing the closure.
In its blog post, Google indicated that data that was potentially exposed was limited:
This data is limited to static, optional Google+ Profile fields including name, email address, occupation, gender and age. (See the full list on our developer site.) It does not include any other data you may have posted or connected to Google+ or any other service, like Google+ posts, messages, Google account data, phone numbers or G Suite content.
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