In midst of their second platform hack, Google announced the early shutdown of their social media platform Google+. Instead of the platform shutting down in August 2019, as previously planned, the social media will shut down public use in April 2019. The platform launched in 2011 as a competitor to Facebook and has steadily lost users over the years.

According to Google’s official blog, the software developers, referred to as APIs, would ask users for their personal information. This information that was stolen during this hack ranged from occupations to email address’.

The social media platform was originally integrated with YouTube accounts and other functions under Google’s ownership. This decision was met with harsh backlash because users viewed it as unnecessary when creating and maintaining accounts. Sophomore Ryan Johnson thinks that the closure is concerning for Google and users of the platform.

“It seemed like they would have a more secure platform,” Johnson said. “I don’t think there will be any marks on Google’s history with all of their other utensils and apps.”

The first hack on the platform occurred in October with a similar method of hacking. The Verge reported that only 432 users were affected by the hack and that Google took over seven months to disclose the incident to the public.

According to Google’s blog post, in response to the second hack concerning the APIs, Google will shut down the API program in March of 2019. As a result of a software update in November, the issue gained traction.

Google has yet to announce a new social media platform to replace Google+. Johnson believes that Google needs to give any future platform longevity in its user bases.

“I would assume Google would make a new social media platform,” Johnson said. “I wouldn’t care if Google released a new platform because I wouldn’t use it a lot.”

This second hack raises concern for Google and the other apps offered by the company as this is not a problem that should be taken lightly.