Oct 30 - Social networking website Facebook was awarded US$711.2 million in damages relating to an anti-spam case against Internet marketer Sanford Wallace, court documents show.

Wallace did not oppose the motion or appear at the hearing on Sept. 18, 2009, according to a filing on Thursday in a San Jose, California federal court.

The site filed an anti-spamming case against Wallace in February for accessing people's Facebook accounts without their permission and sending phony mail and posts to the individuals' public message wall, the company said in a blog post.

"While we don't expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent," Facebook said in a blog post.

Wallace did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment. His email address was obtained from the court documents.