Is Facebook pushing up your phone bill?

Have you discovered a sudden surge in your phone bill? This could well be linked to reading news feeds on the Facebook mobile app on your phone, media reports suggest.

Users who do not turn off the default auto-play setting on Facebook videos may suffer as videos on news posts may play on their own if users just pause to read them.

Tracking a recent surge in hefty data charges among users, Britain-based consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com first spotted the problem.

"We have seen many complaints from people who have been stung with data bills exceeding their monthly allowance and who believe it to be because of Facebook auto-playing videos," the site said.

To avoid extra data charges entirely, users can easily turn the auto-play feature off in settings in their mobile and desktop devices, CBS News reported.

There is also an option so videos only auto-play when a user is connected to WiFi, Facebook was quoted as saying.