Facebook sued in California over hack of 50 million accounts

Facebook says hackers took advantage of its “View As” feature to take over accounts of as many as 50 million users but said it has fixed the problem.

Facebook Inc was sued by users of the social network over claims that it negligently allowed hackers to compromise as many as 50 million accounts.

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo. (Reuters)

The class-action complaint was filed Friday in federal court in Northern California within hours of Facebook’s statement saying it has fixed the breach, the latest in a series of missteps that are undermining confidence in the company’s social network and business model.

Personal information of users “was exposed due to a flaw in Facebook’s code that allowed hackers and other nefarious users to take over user accounts and siphon off Personal Information for unsavory and illegal purposes,” according to the complaint, which was filed by a California woman and a Virginia man.