Facebook claims to have posted contacts containing up to 1.5 million users by email By Reuters

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 said on Wednesday that it could have "unintentionally imported" contacts from 1.5 million new users since May 2016, which seems to be the latest privacy issue faced by the social media company.

In March, Facebook had stopped offering optional email pbadword verification to first-time subscribers, the company said. In some cases, electronic contacts of people were uploaded to Facebook when they created their account, the company said.

"We estimate that nearly 1.5 million email contacts have been downloaded, these contacts have not been shared with anyone, and we are removing them," Facebook told Reuters, adding that users whose contacts had been imported would be notified.

The underlying problem has been fixed, according to the statement of the company.

Business Insider had previously reported that the social media company had collected email contacts from users without knowing it or consenting when opening their accounts.

When a pbadword has been entered, a message appears stating that it "imported" contacts without asking for permission beforehand, the report says.

A number of privacy issues have recently hit Facebook, including a computer problem that exposed its employees to the pbadwords of millions of registered users in a readable format within its internal systems.

Last year, the company was criticized as a result of revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a British policy consultancy, had obtained personal data from profiles of millions of people on Facebook without their consent.

The company has also been criticized by lawmakers around the world for what has been perceived by some as inciting people to give personal data to Facebook and for the presence of hate speech and portability of data on the platform.

In addition, Facebook has been asked to ensure that its social media platform is not used for political purposes or to disseminate misinformation during elections.