Some 'apps' developers were paid to share user info: Facebook

NEW YORK: Amid rising privacy concerns, social networking site Facebook has found cases of a data broker paying some application developers for getting user information.

The popular site has imposed a six-month moratorium on these application developers on their access to Facebook's communication channels.

Applications or 'apps' are programmes that allow users to communicate with others or play games, among others, on the social networking site.

"As we examined the circumstances of inadvertent User ID transfers, we discovered some instances where a data broker was paying developers for UIDs...," Facebook said in a blog.

Recently, media reports had said that certain Facebook applications are sharing the users' information with third parties.

The transfer of these UIDs did not give access to any private data, Facebook noted.

According to the blog, the six-month moratorium impacts "impacts fewer than a dozen, mostly small developers, none of which, are in the top 10 applications on Facebook platform."

"Facebook has never sold and will never sell user information," the blog said.

The social networking site has significant number of users in India and had recently opened its first office in the country in Hyderabad.