March 25, 2021

Following the widespread outburst on Twitter and media attention, work-chat platform, Slack finally acknowledged the gaping flaw in its new feature “Connect DM” which allows users to send direct messages to people they don’t work with. While Slack had initially rolled out Slack Connect which allowed companies to create channels shared between multiple Slack servers to facilitate business operations, its recent feature allows anyone with a paid account anywhere in the world to send a direct message request to any other Slack user in the world even if they do not have a paid account.

While Ilan Frank, Slack’s VP of product disclosed that Slack is deliberately positioning itself to become the chat platform of choice for the business world, users criticized the platform for its latest feature stating how easy it is to use Connect DM to abuse or harass others. In its latest update, Slack revealed plans to release an update following the feedback. Slack stated, “We are taking immediate steps to prevent this kind of abuse, beginning today with the removal of the ability to customize a message when a user invites someone to Slack Connect DMs. Slack Connect’s security features and robust administrative controls are a core part of its value both for individual users and their organizations. We made a mistake in this initial roll-out that is inconsistent with our goals for the product and the typical experience of Slack Connect usage. As always, we are grateful to everyone who spoke up, and we are committed to fixing this issue.”

For more information, read the original story in ArsTechnica.