Facebook reportedly fires employee accused of stalking women online

MENLO PARK, California -- ABC News says the Facebook employee accused of using his access to stalk women online has been fired.

Chief Security Officer at Facebook Alex Stamos released a statement on the matter saying, "We are investigating this as a matter of urgency. It's important that people's information is kept secure and private when they use Facebook. It's why we have strict policy controls and technical restrictions so employees only access the data they need to do their jobs - for example to fix bugs, manage customer support issues or respond to valid legal requests. Employees who abuse these controls will be fired."

RELATED: Facebook investigating claim that employee used access to stalk women online

The story broke Monday afternoon after an article on Vice site Motherboard accused the employee of stalking women online using intelligence from his job at Facebook.

After the article appeared, Facebook officials issued a statement saying: "Although we can't comment on any individual personnel matters, we are aware of the situation and investigating.

We maintain strict technical controls and policies to restrict employee access to user data. Access is scoped by job function, and designated employees are only allowed to access the amount of information that's necessary to carry out their job responsibilities, such as responding to bug reports, account support inquiries, or valid legal requests. We have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, and improper behavior results in termination."