April 17 (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said it "unintentionally uploaded" the email contacts of 1.5 million new users since May 2016, Business Insider reported bit.ly/2V7XMTS on Wednesday.

The social media company harvested email contacts of the users without their knowledge or consent when they opened their accounts, the report said.

Facebook told Business Insider that it did not mean to upload these contacts, and is now in the process of deleting them.

Facebook did not respond to Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours. (Reporting by Ishita Chigilli Palli in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)