In a breathtakingly creepy invasion of privacy, Facebook is forcing all smartphone users to install a new messaging app. The Android version of the app -- and to a lesser extent the iPhone version as well -- allows Facebook to access your phone camera and record audio, call and send messages, identify details about you and all your contacts, and send that info on to third parties.

If you want to carry on sending and receiving messages through Facebook on your mobile phone you now have no choice but to install Facebook Messenger -- and give the company access to a wealth of personal data stored on your phone.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has also admitted that his long-term plan could be to 'monetize' the app, so we need to act now before the app becomes impossible to stop.

Tell Facebook to stop invading its users' privacy and allow people to keep using the old messenger feature.

The company claims that it is simply improving the user experience, and that it doesn’t have control over the permissions required for the app, specifically on Android phones. But there’s a simple solution to the problem: don’t make users download the new messenger. 

Most people installing the app have absolutely no idea what they just agreed to. We need to spread the word about Facebook's shocking privacy invasion -- and if we can make this petition huge, Facebook will have to listen and get rid of this invasive new app.

Sign the petition and share it on Facebook.

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More information:

Snopes.com, Facebook messenger, August 2014

Washington Post, Yes, the Facebook Messenger app requests creepy, invasive permissions. But so does every other app., 4 August 2014

To read Facebook's response to these concerns, please see: https://www.facebook.com/messengerfacts