Google has revealed recently that Google+ account information of over 500,000 users was exposed due to a bug. In light of this, the company is planning to shut down its Google+ service for consumers.

Google wrote in a blog post that information such as name, email address, occupation, gender and age were made vulnerable to a breach. However, the company states that it found no evidence that the data was misused. Google immediately patched the bug the moment it was discovered in March 2018.

The information here has only been disclosed now, meaning that Google chose to keep quiet about the issue. This comes amidst a data breach that happened only last month on Facebook as well as the Cambridge Analytica scandal which happened earlier in the year.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Google executives tried to cover up the issue in fears of public scrutiny, as claimed by a source. However, the company stated that it did not disclose the incident because it could not accurately find proof of misuse.

The shutdown of the consumer version of Google+ will be performed in stages across 10 months. Google wrote that the consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement. For reference, 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds. In the meantime, users can download and migrate all of their data to alternative platforms.