San Francisco, Oct 8 (AFP) Google on Monday announced it is shutting down the consumer version of its online social network after fixing a bug exposing private data in as many as 500,000 accounts.

The US internet giant said it will "sunset" Google+ social network for consumers, which failed to gain meaningful traction as a challenge to Facebook.

A Google spokesperson cited "significant challenges in creating and maintaining a successful Google+ that meets consumers' expectations" along with "very low usage" as the reasons for the move. (AFP) SCY

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