Facebook is in more than just a spot of bother, and the troubled social network is once again on the defensive after claims were made that it has been scraping your call and SMS history for years via its Messenger and Facebook Lite apps. However, Facebook states that "this is not the case.".
In a public post on its newsroom, the social network gets straight to the point: "You may have seen some recent reports that Facebook has been logging people's call and SMS (text) history without their permission.
"This is not the case."
The reports it speaks of include an article by Ars Technica which highlighted the possibility that Facebook is harvesting call and SMS data without permission, and the site claims that the firm's response doesn't fully align with its own findings.
While the feature records when you contact a friend, Facebook is clear that it doesn't read what messages contain.
"We never sell this data, and this feature does not collect the content of your text messages or calls."
Check your settings
If you're not sure whether you're uploading your call and SMS data to Facebook, jump into the Messenger app and check your settings.
It's not immediately obvious where you need to tap in the app to find the settings, but it's the icon of your profile picture in the top right of the screen.
From here you'll find the "SMS" option – give it a tap and make sure the slider is in the "off" position. Select "People" and you'll be able to see whether or not you've synced your contacts to Facebook.
If you don't want this is happen any more, you can turn sync off. You may also want to visit this page to manage/delete contacts that have already been uploaded to the social network.