Zuckerberg's Facebook page won't be deleted on livestream, hacker backs off: Report

A Taiwanese hacker who vowed to delete Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page to identify a bug in the social media platform’s security has decided not to follow through on the plan, according to a report Friday.

Earlier this week, the hacker, Chang Chi-yuan, announced to his 26,000 Facebook followers that he would livestream his hack on Sunday. However, when news of the scheduled hack went viral, Chang canceled the plan to avoid “unnecessary trouble,” Bloomberg reported.

“I am canceling my live feed, I have reported the bug to Facebook and I will show proof when I get bounty from Facebook,” Chang told Bloomberg.

Chang is a prominent “white hat” hacker – a term meant to identify hackers who exploit flaws in computer systems for non-malicious reasons. In Chang’s case, the hacks are generally done in exchange for “bounty,” or a cash payment.

Facebook representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the situation.

The situation unfolded as Facebook contends with lingering questions related to its data privacy and security practices. The social media giant faced congressional scrutiny after a British data firm, Cambridge Analytica, was able to improperly access the personal data of up to 87 million users.

Zuckerberg’s official Facebook page has nearly 120 million followers.