Facebook wants to read your SMS, confidential info: Kaspersky

Kaspersky added the permissions also grants access to multimedia messages, for which reason is not explicitly given.

It expressed apprehension on the word ‘automatic' used in the permission sought by Facebook.

“...the key, it seems to lie in the word ‘automatically' Surely the app doesn't need to do this automatically. Facebook could simply prompt me to type in the code manually. Or, at the very least, provide this option,” Kaspersky said.

It added that this may be an innocent feature “but in the light of growing concerns about online privacy, such an option would help to allay people's fears”.

Facebook is reported to have 93 million users in India out of which 75 million access it from their mobile phone as of December 2013.

The permissions sought by Facebook are apart from similar permissions sought by Google's Android platform in the name of Facebook.

The social media company on its website said, “Keep in mind that Android controls the way the permissions are named, and the way they're named doesn't necessarily reflect the way the Facebook app uses them. We realise that some of these permissions sound scary, so we'd like to provide more info about how we use them.”

On the issue of permission sought by Android to access information and edit feature in user's phone, Google has earlier said, “Its an app which you (user) have choice of installing.”

Facebook — with more than 1.2 billion users worldwide — is celebrating its 10th birthday amidst challenges of keeping its original base of young users with new innovative social networks coming to the fore.

The company was launched by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004, from Harvard University.