Facebook Sued for "Secretly" Tracking User Locations

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook for allegedly gathering its users’ location data without permission.

The suit — filed Friday in San Francisco — claims the data was collected by the Silicon Valley company even after its users opted out of “Location History” features and was then used to pad its advertising business.

“Facebook secretly tracks, logs, and stores location data for all of its users–including those who have sought to limit the information about their locations that Facebook may store in its servers by choosing to turn Location History off,” the suit said, according to The Wrap.

By using IP addresses and WiFi data to track locations, the suit claims Facebook “violated federal and state wiretapping laws.”

But the social media site claims its location services feature has always been transparent.

“Our Data Policy and related disclosures explain our practices relating to location data and provide information about the privacy settings we make available,” a Facebook spokesperson told TheWrap. “This lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”