Amid allegations that it is invading the privacy of its members by tracking where they go next after logging out, Facebook answered a conroversial blog post, called media, and released an official statement.

Previously, tech blogger Nik Cubrilovic conducted tests, which revealed that when a user logs out of Facebook, the site maintains account information and other web tokens that can be used to identify the user, such that the network is able to track the user where he goes next on the web.

Cubrilovic was previously involved with technology blog TechCrunch and online storage company Omnidrive.

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), a group which monitors and lobbies on internet privacy, supports the blogger's claims, saying says Facebook is introducing changes in the way they record what you do online.

"What has happened now with some of Facebook's new services that they've just started to introduce and they're proposing to introduce shortly is that there is the potential for even when you're logged out of Facebook for those cookies to track what you're doing and potentially to reveal to people, when you didn't intend to reveal to them, what you've been doing and where you've been going on the web," he said, adding, "And it may be that you're going places that you don't want to tell people you're going."

Collins says Facebook's latest move is about gathering information to build your profile and connections as well as to direct targeted ads to you, a claim Facebook denies.

Facebook engineer Gregg Stefancik says the social network is not violating user's privacy.

In a comment on Cubrilovic's post, Stefancik did admit that Facebook alters - but does not delete - cookies when users log out, justifying it as a safety measure. He said Facebook does not use the cookies to track users or sell their personal information.

Cubrilovic insists the network should delete its tracking cookies instead of merely modifying them once the user has logged out. If Facebook is not doing this, the user who wants to protect his privacy must be proactive.

"The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions," Cubrilovic noted.

Facebook has contacted ABC's PM program to insist it does not track users online or use their information to target ads.

In a written statement published by Sydney Morning Herald, Facebook said: "Facebook does not track users across the web. Instead, we use cookies on social plug-ins to personalise content (e.g. show you what your friends liked), to help maintain and improve what we do (e.g. measure click-through rate), or for safety and security (e.g. keeping underage kids from trying to sign up with a different age). No information we receive when you see a social plug-in is used to target ads, we delete or anonymise this information within 90 days, and we never sell your information."

Meanwhile, ABC reports that the office of the Privacy Commissioner says it has begun a preliminary inquiry into Facebook's operations.