Chandigarh, Sep 1 - Popular social networking website Facebook has been caught in a 'smoky' row. An anti-tobacco activist here has served a notice to the website, accusing it of 'promotion of smoking culture' through its web pages.

Anti-tobacco activist Hemant Goswami Tuesday said he has served a notice to Facebook Inc. in California (US) and Facebook Ireland Ltd, which run the social networking website facebook.com, for violation of Indian laws that ban advertisement and promotion of tobacco products.

'Apparently, Facebook claims to have a policy of not advertising tobacco products through paid advertisement on its website. However, this claim remains ineffective as it allows all brands and tobacco products to be promoted through member pages and groups,' said Goswami, who is a member of the union health ministry's National Steering Committee on Tobacco Control.

'Contrary to the claims, Facebook allows promotion of smoking culture through advertisements.