Facebook Denies ‘Text Messages’ Poaching Charges Over On Android

Posted on Feb 27 2012 - 12:47pm by Editorial Staff

In an interesting part to an add-on to the story that we covered this morning, reporting that Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube and other social site accused of poaching text messages over on Android, the world’s largest social networking site denies the allegations. The social network’s UK office said its app’s ability to access text messages was open and transparent, and that Facebook isn’t actually looking at text messages anyway.

“The Sunday Times has done some creative conspiracy theorising,” the representative said in a statement. “The suggestion that we’re secretly reading people texts is ridiculous. Instead, the permission is clearly disclosed on the app page in the Android marketplace and is in anticipation of new features that enable users to integrate Facebook features with their reading and sending of texts.”

Facebook added that although its apps do have the permission to read, send and edit text messages in a user’s phone, but this is not what the company is doing. The product under tests will require the SMS part of the phone to talk to the Facebook app, Facebook asserted. Adding, “The permissions issue is as much one for Google as Facebook, Apple’s iOS walls off certain phone functions from third-party apps – including text messages and phone functions. But on Android phones that information is accessible to apps, provided the user agrees on downloading the app.”

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