Canadian insurance firm Manulife has reportedly cut a depressed womans benefits because photos showing her happy were posted on Facebook.
The woman, Nathalie Blanchard, said she cannot understand how Manulife was able to access her account because she had adjusted her privacy settings so that only friends could see her posts, said CBC News.
Blanchard was on leave from her company IBM for over a year after she was diagnosed with depression. She claims she was having fun on her doctors advice in order to forget her problems.
Manulife has confirmed to CBC News that it uses Facebook to investigate clients.
But it said, "We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook."
Facebook has already proved its use to human resource departments wanting to investigate potential new staff. Senior managers have also been found to use Facebook to check up on employees.
According to Facebook's current privacy policy, the social networking site will share information to prevent fraud or other illegal activity.
"This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities," says the policy.
Insurers using Facebook to investigate claimants
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