Facebook Used Phone Camera for Spying on Instagram Users: Report

Facebook has also been accused of collecting biometric data using facial recognition technology. 

The Quint
Tech News
Published:
Facebook has been allegedly sued for spying on Instagram users. 
i
Facebook has been allegedly sued for spying on Instagram users. 
(Photo: iStock)

advertisement

Facebook has got itself in trouble again as the California-based tech giant has been allegedly sued for spying on Instagram users using the camera on the phone, Bloomberg reported.

According to the lawsuit, which has come following reports from July, the photo-sharing application had been accessing the camera on the iPhone to spy on users even when they weren’t activated.

Facebook has denied the claim and blamed a bug saying that it’s correcting the problem.

In the complaint that was filed by New Jersey Instagram users Brittney Condti, she contends that the app’s use of the camera is intentional and is done with the purpose of collecting “lucrative and valuable data on its users that it would not otherwise have access to.”

The complaint also reads that by “obtaining extremely private and intimate personal data on their users, including in the privacy of their own homes,” Instagram and Facebook are able to collect “valuable insights and market research.”

Facebook has declined to comment on the matter.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

In a lawsuit filed last month, Facebook was accused of using facial recognition technology to collect biometric data of more than 100 million Instagram users. The social network has denied the claim saying that Instagram doesn’t use facial recognition technology.

(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)

Published: undefined

ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL FOR NEXT