Suit alleges Facebook data mines private messages for advertisers

Two Facebook users have filed a suit against the U.S. company claiming it mines private messages for data it then sells to third parties. The suit, filed in a U.S. district court in Northern California, alleges Facebook scans messages between users labeled "private" for links and other information that can be sold to advertisers, marketers and data aggregators, CNN reported Friday. Facebook's action violates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the suit claims. "Facebook's desire to harness the myriad data points of its users has led to overreach and intrusion ... as it mines its account holders' private communications for monetary gain," the plaintiffs allege. Facebook users Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley said it is being done without proper disclosure or the consent of users, and said they want the court to make the suit a class action. As many as 166 million Facebook users in the United States would be eligible to join a class action suit, they said. Facebook previously settled a class action over targeted advertising for $20 million but did not respond to a request to comment on the latest suit, CNN said.