Facebook to buy Opera to create its own web browser?

Hot on the heels of a rumoured Facebook Phone comes speculation that Facebook will be buying the Opera web browser.

According to Pocket Lint's source, the social media giant is planning to take on Google, Apple and Mozilla in the browser arena with Opera (and hopefully not littering it with Mafia Wars pop-ups and intrusive notifications). Given its popularity among mobile users, it would certainly make sense for Facebook to build its proposed phone around the Opera browsing experience.

A well-integrated and polished Facebook browser could be beneficial to heavy users – although there might be a backlash from the Opera faithful if the rumours turn out to be true.

Given that Facebook splashed out US$1 billion for Instagram, this isn't the most far-fetched rumour to come out of Facebookville – so we'll keep our ears to the ground for more info as always.