US media have confirmed that Facebook has listened and copied conversations to its users on Messenger.
A report said the contractors were testing Facebook's AI capability to interpret messages. Technology giants have acknowledged collecting voice conversations for their users to improve the quality of their products.
US media reported on Tuesday that Facebook hired hundreds of contractors from outside the company to listen to excerpts of voice conversations of its users and copies, amid continued strict scrutiny of the methods of the giant social network in data collection.
Facebook admitted to copying the talks, which Bloomberg revealed for the first time, but told the US media group in a statement that the hearing had been authorized by users, but the practice had been halted. The company did not specify what it did with the voice talks afterwards. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment by Agence France-Presse.
"Just like Apple and Google, we stopped the human voice review more than a week ago," the statement said.
According to the report, contractors were testing the ability of Facebook's AI to interpret messages, and only affected users were those who used Facebook Messenger and gave permission to copy their voice chats.