Read Between The Lines: Facebook Messenger Has Privacy Issue

Facebook Messenger has created a wave of distrust among users after the standalone app's list of permissions raised privacy concerns.

Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, is in the process of moving all the messages and the messaging feature from its main app to the standalone Messenger app. More than a billion mobile app users have been asked to install the Messenger to continue sending and receiving messages through smartphone. As simple as it sounds, the story has another side that is just as concerning. The app's terms and conditions have raised privacy concerns among users after media reports highlighted some points.

Every app in Play Store requires users to accept a set of terms before installing them. Due to their lengthy terms, most users just click the "Accept" button to get on with the installation. But Facebook may be taking advantage of its brand value to get users to accept permissions that compromise users' privacy on the whole.

Facebook Messenger is an instant mobile chat application for the social network that can be used to directly send and receive messages without going to the main app. This should mean saving on the memory, bandwidth and battery that is needed to open the main Facebook app. But the app requires acceptance of an alarming amount of personal data and uninterrupted access to the smartphone.

According to a report by TVNZ, Facebook Messenger app requires permissions "to call phone numbers without your intervention," and "send SMS messages" that may incur additional carrier charges. The app also seeks permission to "record audio at any time," and "take pictures and videos with the camera" without users' content. The permission log also seeks access to phone's call log, which can be shared by other malicious apps without users' permission.

The concern with the app's permission was originally reported by Huffington Post last year.