Meta (NASDAQ:FB) has said that around 50,000 Facebook users have been targeted by private surveillance companies.
Meta, which also owns and operates Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, said in a blogpost Thursday that it has alerted the people who it believes were targeted by the malicious activities.
Seven “surveillance-for-hire” companies have also been banned from Meta’s platforms, the company said. Action was taken against Cobwebs Technologies, Cognyte, Black Cube, Blue Hawk CI, BellTroX, Cytrox and an unknown Chinese entity. Four of them are located in Israel, one is in India, one is in North Macedonia, and the other is in China.
Meta said the seven firms carried out a combination of reconnaissance, engagement and exploitation. Some carried out all three, while others focused on one or two. The company, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said around 1,500 accounts linked to the seven firms have been removed from its platforms.
The companies targeted people including journalists and human rights activists in over 100 countries on behalf of their clients, Meta said, adding that they created fake accounts, befriended targets and used hacking methods to acquire information.
"The global surveillance-for-hire industry targets people across the internet to collect intelligence, manipulate them into revealing information and compromise their devices and accounts" wrote Meta’s David Agranovich, director of threat disruption, and Mike Dvilyanski, head of cyber espionage investigations.
FB shares faltered $3.09 to begin Friday at $331.81.
