A lawsuit was filed against Facebook on Thursday for allegedly spying on Instagram users through their cameras, Bloomberg reported. The social networking platform owns Instagram, a photo and video sharing application.

In the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, United States, Instagram user Brittany Conditi claimed that the app was intentionally using the camera for “lucrative and valuable data on its users that it would not otherwise have access to”, according to the media company.

The lawsuit alleged that Facebook was collecting “valuable insights” by accessing personal data of their users, “including in the privacy of their own homes”. Facebook has declined to comment on the matter.

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The case is related to media reports, published in July, on Instagram’s unauthorised access to iPhone cameras in an unauthorised manner without user’s knowledge. Facebook had denied the reports, saying that it was a bug, The Independent reported.

Users had in July spotted an indicator after they downloaded Apple’s operating system iOS 14 Beta, which alerts users when applications access certain private data such as location or camera. Instagram had then said the indicator could be seen because of the app’s Create Mode, a function that enables users to share posts that do not have photos or videos by swiping left from the home feed or by using the application’s camera. Using the swipe function could activate the indicator by mistake, the company added.

Apart from Facebook, iOS 14’s notifications have alerted users to other similar activities. Over 50 companies including LinkedIn, TikTok and Reddit were also found to be using iPhone clipboard without the knowledge of the users.

In August, Instagram was accused of obtaining the biometric data of its users without their consent or knowledge. It was alleged that the social media platform was using facial-recognition technology for the purpose. Facebook refuted the claim and said that the photo-sharing app does not use facial-recognition technology.