Summary:
In June 2012, Facebook removed all email addresses from users' profiles and replaced it with an '@facebook.com'. Facebook had initially launched its email service in November 2010, with the hope of providing one inbox where users could send and receive emails and messages. The service never caught on, and was promptly forgotten by everyone.
Allegations:
- In 2012, Facebook without any warning, replaced all users' email address with a forced addition of 'facebook.com' email addresses.
- The splash damage from this forced change carried on to users who had allowed Facebook to sync contact info from their friends' accounts. For many users, friends' real e-mail addresses were replaced with @facebook.com ones.
Defence:
- Facebook initially only acknowledged that they had rolled out a "new setting that gives people the choice to decide which addresses they want to show on their timelines." They did not explain why (or even acknowledge) that all of these addresses were made default on people's profiles.
- Later, the social network said that the contact sync was a bug that it intended to fix. In 2014, Facebook officially retired its email service and notified users that all email sent on their 'facebook.com' address will be forwarded to their primary address on file.