Popular photo messaging app Snapchat has reportedly turned down a $US3.2bn from Facebook.

If the Wall Street Journal’s sources are correct the offer is three time what Facebook bought Instagram for last year.

Snapchat and Facebook have not commented on the rumour.

Snapchat’s rebuff come as other investors reportedly sniff around the two-year company with a $4.2bn bid by Chinese company Tencent Holdings also recently turned down.

The messaging service is now used to send more than 350 million messages a day, a remarkable rise from 60 million per day in February.

Facebook has been moving to aggressively monetise its platform and that of Instagram through advertising, this is one factor that could have lead to Snapchat’s refusal.

In September one of Snapchat’s founders, Evan Spiegel, said he wanted to follow the lead of chatting applications such as WeChat which makes its money not through advertising but via the sale of virtual games and goods.