Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that Facebook scans all the images and text in private messages send between its users,
The Sun UK reports.
The tech billionaire, 33, says the social media giant checks the content of messages on its Messenger app in case they conflict with its guidelines.
This comes amid the scandal surrounding Cambridge Analytica – the Trump-affiliated firm which bought Facebook data to target US voters.
The world’s leading social network has also been rocked with the revelation that it collected call and text data from Android phone users.
Zuckerberg spoke about the policy of scanning messages on a podcast interview with Vox's editor at large, Ezra Klein.
The 33-year-old was discussing how the Messenger app had blocked content showing the alleged ethnic cleansing in Burma.
He said: “In that case, our systems detect what’s going on.
“We stop those messages from going through.”
The company has insisted that it does not use the data scanned from messages for advertising, reports Bloomberg,
Facebook claims its uses the same community standards to block abusive content across its entire platform.
A Messenger spokeswoman said in a statement: “For example, on Messenger, when you send a photo, our automated systems scan it using photo matching technology to detect known child exploitation imagery or when you send a link, we scan it for malware or viruses.
“Facebook designed these automated tools so we can rapidly stop abusive behaviour on our platform.”
Meanwhile, Facebook said today that the personal information of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.
That’s nearly 40 million more users than previously thought.
Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer shared the higher number as part of a blog post about steps the company was taking to restrict the personal data available to third-party app developers
Most of the 87 million people were in the United States, Schroepfer wrote in the blog post.
The social media company has been hammered by investors and faces anger from users, advertisers and lawmakers after a series of scandals about fake news stories, election-meddling and privacy.