Facebook's quarterly sales rose by nearly 50% in the social media giant's first results since a privacy scandal over users' data emerged.

The company said that revenues rose to $11.9bn in the first three months of the year, compared to $8bn previously.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said: "Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018."

He added that the firm is "taking a broader review of our responsibility".

Facebook said that its advertising revenue rose to $11.7bn in the three months to the end of March, compared to $7.8bn in the same period a year ago.

First quarter profits also grew, reaching $4.9bn compared to $3bn last year.

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