Meta warns that 50,000 of its users, including Facebook and Instagram, may have been targeted and spied on by private surveillance companies. The team is taking steps to remove the “spies”.
Meta eliminates seven companies guilty of spying on Facebook and Instagram users
As reported by Gizmondo, Meta is reportedly taking action after discovering numerous privacy policy violations by private surveillance companies. These would have been able to spy on tens of thousands of people between Facebook and Instagram. In all they would count approx 50,000 users spied on.
Meta’s team has already removed at least seven of these companies from the platform, and other investigations are underway. We know that numerous fake accounts were also connected to the spy network, which were promptly removed. In a report released alongside the announcement, Meta officials gave details of the platform’s cleanup contacts:
“We have disabled seven entities that have targeted our users on the internet in over 100 countries. We also shared what we know with cybersecurity experts, politicians and other social platforms. Finally, we alerted the people we believe are victims of these data thefts, to help them strengthen the security of their accounts “
The report concludes by shedding light on the dynamics of the attacks: the spy companies allegedly acted by creating fake accounts and establishing social relationships with users. They would also have joined the various private groups so as to be able to monitor the work of journalists, activists and politicians.
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