Social networking site Facebook is being sued in the United States for allegedly selling details of private messages to advertisers without users' consent.
The class action is being brought on behalf of American users who have sent or received private Facebook messages that had a webpage link or URL in the content of the message.
The lawsuit is being led by two US-based users Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley, who have filed legal documents in California alleging that Facebook intercepts private messages, the ABC reports.
They say the social media giant scans the messages for links to external websites and then attempts to use those links to collect information about users' internet activity. It is claimed the information is then sold on to advertisers.
In a statement, Facebook says the allegations are without merit and it will vigourously defend itself. It has paid out more than $US30 million over the past two years to settle separate privacy-related lawsuits.
