"The names of people who use some of the website's most popular applications, such as Farmville and Texas HoldEm Poker, were "transmitted" to outside companies by those apps via the User ID, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.
"A Facebook user ID may be inadvertently shared by a user's Internet browser or by an application," a Facebook spokesman told the newspaper.
The Facebook User ID is a number attached to each individual, and can reveal that person's name, and even the names of "friends," regardless of that person's privacy settings, according to the WSJ.
The Facebook spokesman stressed, however, that the ID itself "does not permit access to anyone's private information."
Facebook has altered its site and privacy settings over the past year in order to allow for more targeted advertising on the site, which has irked millions of users. Personal details are supposed to be kept anonymous, however, and the WSJ report would indicate that this rule was violated.
"This is an even more complicated technical challenge than a similar issue we successfully addressed last spring on Facebook.com," the Facebook spokesman told the Journal, "but one that we are committed to addressing."
The social media website insists it is making efforts to "dramatically limit" the leaking of users’ personal information".
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