Facebook owner Meta said Thursday that around 50,000 Facebook users have been targeted by private surveillance companies.
Meta 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. None of the firms immediately responded to a CNBC request for comment. 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.
