This raises even more concerns about Facebook. The "intrusive access" to the personal data of its 2.2 billion users may have violated an agreement Facebook previously made.  In some instances, private messages, usernames, and contact information were given to other companies raising questions about whether the social media company ran afoul of a 2011 consent agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, reported Fox News.

The arrangements are detailed in a blockbuster New York Times report which is based on over 270 pages of internal Facebook documents and interviews with about 50 former company employees. These secretive arrangements were ostensibly meant to benefit Facebook's never-ending push for growth and enable the companies it works with to add features to their products to improve them. However, the findings underscore just how much power the Menlo Park, California-based company wields over the data of its users.