Facebook has suspended a data analysis company whose contracts with the US government may have violated its polices about how publicly available data about users can be collected and shared.

Boston-based Crimson Hexagon had contracts with multiple US government agencies as well as a Russian non-profit called the Civil Society Development Foundation, which has ties to the Russian government.

The news was first reported on Friday by the Wall Street Journal, which said Crimson Hexagon has at least 22 separate contracts with US government agencies that total more than $US800,000 ($1.1 million).

In a statement, Facebook said it takes the allegations seriously and has suspended the Crimson Hexagon apps while it investigates.

The social media giant has apologised for allowing information gathered from its users to be used to target them for political purposes, after it came to light in March that a British political ad marketing company, Cambridge Analytica, had worked for President Trump's campaign and was involved in the misappropriation of 87 million Facebook users' data.