Facebook secretly tracked user to better understand how users behaved on rival websites, including Amazon, Snapchat and YouTube, data according to documents unsealed in a California federal court. The documents are part of a class action lawsuit between Meta and consumers over Facebook's policy of analyzing traffic and other data from its rivals.
The documents, filed by attorney Brian J. Dunne for U.S. District Judge James Donato in May 2023, are part of the lawsuit filed in 2020, which alleges that Facebook engaged in anti-competitive behavior and used deceptive practices to track and obtain user.
See also: Donald Trump: Banning TikTok will strengthen Facebook
The company is accused of using methods to analyze encrypted data, launching “Project Ghostbusters.” The project was part of the company’s In-App Action Panel (IAPP), a program that ran between 2016 and 2019 at the direct request of CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
According to the lawyer, Project Ghostbusters used “incredibly aggressive technological measures — including intercepting and decrypting SSL-protected traffic” on Snapchat. Later, it began using the same tactic to collect user data from Amazon and YouTube.
A Meta spokesperson told Mashable that this issue was raised years ago and that the plaintiffs' allegations are baseless and completely irrelevant to the case.
Court documents in the case include internal emails between Zuckerberg and Facebook employees. In an email from June 9, 2016, Zuckerberg wrote:
“Whenever someone asks a question about Snapchat, the answer is usually that, because its traffic is encrypted, we don't have analytics on it... Given how fast it's growing, it seems important to find a new way to get reliable analytics on it. Maybe we need to make panels or build custom software. You'll need to figure out how to do that.“.
See also: Snake info-stealer malware: Distributed via Facebook messages
The solution to Zuckerberg’s request came from Onavo, a controversial VPN service that Facebook acquired in 2013. The service was shut down six years later after it was discovered that Facebook was secretly paying teenagers to use the service to access their web activity. In the case of Project Ghostbusters, the Onavo team proposed technology to monitor traffic for specific subdomains, which could be installed on both iOS and Android. These “kits” allowed Facebook to intercept encrypted data.
“We now have the ability to measure detailed activity within the app,” reads an email from Onavo’s IAAP team lead.
Some members of the Facebook team, however, expressed concerns about these kinds of tactics, given that users don't know how their data is being used or don't understand exactly when they are giving their permission for the data to be used.
See also: Nepalese hacker reveals Facebook's Zero-Click vulnerability
The documents, which have now come to light, show once again how Facebook manages to track users and competitors (such as Amazon, Snapchat, YouTube) with various techniques.
🔒 Protect your privacy with Proton VPN
Swiss VPN from the creators of Proton Mail — strict no-logs policy, strong encryption, and built-in NetShield that blocks ads, trackers, & malware.
- ✔ No-logs, based in Switzerland (except 14-Eyes)
- ✔ NetShield: blocks ads, trackers & malicious domains
- ✔ Covers all devices — free version available
The link is an affiliate link — SecNews may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. It does not affect the independence of our article writing.
This analysis of user data allowed the platform to understand user preferences and habits, while also learning about competitors' trends and strategies. This could help Facebook improve its own services and adapt to market changes.
Furthermore, analyzing user data could help develop new strategies for attracting and retaining users, as well as increasing advertising influence.
However, this secretive practice by Facebook has raised concerns about the protection of users' personal data and their trust in the platform.
Source: mashable.com
