Facebook is being sued over allegations it monitors private messages to surreptitiously gather even more information on its users and share the data with advertisers.
According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose, Facebook scans the contents of private messages including links to other websites "to improve its marketing algorithms and increase its ability to profit from data about Facebook users."
When users compose messages that include links to a third-party website, Facebook scans the content of the message, follows the link and searches for information to profile the message-sender’s Web activity, violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California privacy and unfair competition laws, according to the suit.
Facebook said the allegations were "without merit".
"We will defend ourselves vigorously," the world's biggest social networking site added.
The lawsuit is claiming the greater of either $100 (£61) a day for each day of alleged violations or $10,000, for each user.
The two plaintiffs are looking to certify the case as a class action on behalf of all Facebook users who have sent or received a private message in the past two years that included web links.
They are also asking to bar Facebook from continuing to intercept messages and seek as much as $US10,000 in damages for each user.
Google is one of the Silicon Valley companies targeted by similar lawsuits. A US federal judge ruled in September that Google must face a lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of illegally opening and reading the contents of email sent through its Gmail service in violation of US wiretapping laws.
According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose, Facebook scans the contents of private messages including links to other websites "to improve its marketing algorithms and increase its ability to profit from data about Facebook users."
When users compose messages that include links to a third-party website, Facebook scans the content of the message, follows the link and searches for information to profile the message-sender’s Web activity, violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California privacy and unfair competition laws, according to the suit.
Facebook said the allegations were "without merit".
"We will defend ourselves vigorously," the world's biggest social networking site added.
The lawsuit is claiming the greater of either $100 (£61) a day for each day of alleged violations or $10,000, for each user.
The two plaintiffs are looking to certify the case as a class action on behalf of all Facebook users who have sent or received a private message in the past two years that included web links.
They are also asking to bar Facebook from continuing to intercept messages and seek as much as $US10,000 in damages for each user.
Google is one of the Silicon Valley companies targeted by similar lawsuits. A US federal judge ruled in September that Google must face a lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of illegally opening and reading the contents of email sent through its Gmail service in violation of US wiretapping laws.
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