Facebook collecting user information from texts and photos

A new filing in California lawsuit has alleged that Facebook gathered information on users through their texts and photos. It is not the first time Facebook has found itself under the scanner for allegedly accessing user information. The lawsuit against the company is part of a suit by now-defunct startup Six4Three, Cnet reported.

The allegations suggest that Facebook used several methods to collect information it could use for commercial reasons. The information includes tracking users, locations, accessing texts, recording from the microphone, monitoring use of competitive apps and tracking the calls. Facebook said the claims are baseless and that it does not log their call and text history without their consent.

The company further said the logging of the information is part of an opt-in feature for Messenger and Facebook Lite on Android and users are required to explicitly agree to use the feature and can turn it off anytime. Six4Three is suing Facebook over its defunct app Pikinis. After a change to Facebook's policy in 2015, third-party developers were restricted from accessing friend data, which the company complained hurt its business model.

Facebook, in its defence, said it gave all third-party developers ample notice about the change and worked closely with developers to update their apps.