Facebook Engineer Fired Over Stalking Claims

Image copyright Reuters

Facebook has fired a security engineer accused of using his access to data to stalk women online.

Chief security officer Alex Stamos in a statement to the BBC said: "We quickly investigated this situation and immediately fired the person."

Facebook first began to investigate claims against the employee following complaints from Spyglass Security founder Jackie Stokes on Monday.

She then contacted Mr Stamos via Twitter after tweeting her allegations.

At the time Facebook said: "Although we can't comment on any individual personnel matters, we are aware of the situation and investigating."

On Thursday, confirming the employees firing, Mr Stamos said: "It's important that people's information is kept secure and private when they use Facebook.

"It's why we have strict policy controls and technical restrictions so employees only access the data they need to do their jobs - for example to fix bugs, manage customer support issues or respond to valid legal requests.

"Employees who abuse these controls will be fired."

Facebook has not confirmed if any legal action is being taken against the employee.

The allegations against the employee came in the week when Facebook announced that it was to launch a new online dating service.