Who remembers what they shared to Myspace? Well, apparently even the company doesn't know, because it seems to have lost all of the files uploaded to its social network between 2003 and 2015.
Reddit user "JodiXD" said in 2018 that the Myspace player wouldn't load some of the songs they'd uploaded. JodiXD then provided an update saying that Myspace support told them:
"There is an issue with all songs/videos uploaded over three years ago. We are aware of the issue, and I have been informed the issue will be fixed, however, there is no exact time frame for when this will be completed. Until this is resolved the option to download is not available. I apologize for the inconvenience this may be causing." That message was purportedly sent on February 1, 2018.
Four months later, another Reddit user pointed out that Myspace had updated its music player with a warning at the top of the page regarding the status of these old-for-the-internet files:
"As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace. We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest that you retain your back up copies. If you would like more information, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Dr. Jana Jentzsch at DPO@myspace.com."
Just to show exactly how irrelevant Myspace is--even though it now seems to be an entertainment news site--the issue was overlooked until a thread was posted in the Technology subreddit yesterday.
We've reached out to Myspace to see if it will offer any more information about how much data was lost and why it didn't have a backup of the data ready in case the server migration failed.
In the meantime, this should be a good wake-up call to all the people who used to use Myspace and currently use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. to keep local copies of important files.
The claim that "the internet is forever" is a lie. Websites shut down, files are lost, and countless other issues can make data inaccessible. Do what Myspace didn't and learn from its mistakes
