Facebook’s Parent, Meta, Bans “Cyber-mercenaries” Spying on its Users

Teejay Boris, Tech Times 16 December 2021, 10:12 pm

Facebook's parent firm, Meta, has banned several "cyber-mercenaries" or spy-for-hire companies, which it found out was monitoring its users after a couple of months of investigation.

(Photo : Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
This photograph taken on October 28, 2021 shows the META logo on a laptop screen in Moscow as Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced the parent company's name is being changed to "Meta" to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network. - The new handle comes as the social media giant tries to fend off one its worst crises yet and pivot to its ambitions for the "metaverse" virtual reality version of the internet that the tech giant sees as the future.

Facebook's Parent, Meta, Bans "Cyber-mercenaries" Spy

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, announced that it is taking action against the proliferation of surveillance firms in its subsidiaries, including social media giants, Facebook and Instagram.

As per the news story by Washington Post, the investigation further revealed that the spy-for-hire companies are using both Facebook and Instagram to groom and infect their targets with spyware.

What's more, the surveillance firms went on to befriend their targets to harvest information from them via hacking methods.

As such, Meta has banned a total of seven surveillance firms from four varying nations. In turn, the tech giant also kicked out nearly 1,500 fake accounts on its social media platforms.

Not to mention that the crackdown also includes the blocking of web addresses that were used to maliciously spread spyware on its users. The social media firm also sent cease and desists letters to the companies that it found spying on the users of its platforms.

Meta: Spy-For-Hire Firms Target Politicians, Human Rights Workers

According to the report by Yahoo News, the month-long investigation of Meta also discovered that spy-for-hire firms also allegedly target journalists, human rights workers, and politicians on its platforms.

It is worth noting that the revelation of Meta is contrary to the claim of surveillance companies that their services are meant to go after criminals like terrorists, pedophiles, and even drug lords.

The investigation further noted that these firms "regularly" spy on opposition figures in politics, as well as those working for human rights and journalism endeavors.

The head of security policy of Facebook's owner Meta, Nathaniel Gleicher, who is also the co-author of the investigation report, said that "the surveillance industry is much bigger than one company."

The Meta exec further added that "it's much bigger than just malware-for-hire," noting that they are "also targeting ordinary citizens."

"Cyber-mercenaries" Spy-For-Hire Firms

The Meta report further named the firms that it has ruled out to be the "cyber-mercenaries" in its social media platforms.

One of which is a North Macedonia-based firm that goes by the name Cytrox. The tech giant revealed that the said surveillance company allegedly operated about 300 accounts from its subsidiaries.

In addition to that, Meta revealed that the customers of Cytrox are from numerous countries, including Germany, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam-to name a few.

On top of that, the tech giant also named the Israeli firm, known as Black Cube, which previously broke headlines after Harvey Weinstein allegedly used the firm to spy on the women who were claiming that he sexually assaulted them.

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Written by Teejay Boris