There are new reports surfacing of a bug in Google Webmaster Tools, where the links report is showing a small fraction of the links it was reporting the previous day.

WebmasterWorld and a few (here is one) Google Webmaster Help threads have the complaints. We even saw comments in some our posts with complaints.

Webmasters are reporting 80% to 60% drops in backlinks counts as reported by Google Webmaster Tools today versus yesterday. Personally, I see exactly the same number of links from when I snapped a screen shot a few days ago. But maybe I am unaffected or maybe the bug is rolling out more widely or maybe it is fixed already?

One webmaster said:

Another said:

It is not uncommon for there to be bugs with this report. We reported a similar bug in February of this year and then several times before.

I assume this is just a bug and you do not have to worry.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Webmaster Help.