Facebook Accused Of Reading Private Messages, Selling Data

Facebook Accused Of Reading Private Messages, Selling Data:

One aspect of the long-running debate about Facebook privacy may soon be heading to court.

Two Facebook users, Michael Hurley and Matthew Campbell, filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook on Dec. 30, 2013, alleging that the social network "has systematically violated consumers’ privacy by reading its users’ personal, private Facebook messages without their consent."

The lawsuit also alleges that when Facebook finds a link in a private message, it essentially clicks on the URL and if that site has a Facebook "Like" button, the inclusion of the URL in that message is registered as a "Like" for that webpage.

The plaintiffs want Facebook to pay each member of the class action lawsuit "$100 a day for each day of violation or $10,000."