Cyberstalking: 50,000 Consumers possibly targeted by private surveillance firms ─Meta

*The company, formerly known as Facebook, says it has notified 50,000 global users of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger that they may have been stalked by private surveillance companies across the Internet in over 100 countries  

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has disclosed that the global tech giant encountered its first major headache under its new moniker.

The company has notified 50,000 global users of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger that they may have been targeted by private surveillance companies, agency report said.

The Big Tech also noted that those seven firms carried out a mix of “reconnaissance, engagement, and exploitation,” but they have now been completely barred from the company’s platforms henceforth.

In regard to collecting information and compromising accounts in cyperspace, Meta in a blog post describing the issue said that the global “surveillance-for-hire” companies targeted people to collect intelligence and compromise their devices and accounts – not only on Meta’s platforms but across the whole Internet in over 100 countries.

Meta officials David Agranovich and Mike Dvilyanski explained: “While these ‘cyber mercenaries’ often claim that their services only target criminals and terrorists, our months-long investigation concluded that targeting is, in fact, indiscriminate and includes journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition and human rights activists.”

However, Agranovich and Dvilyanski stated that Meta is trying to prevent this from happening, again, by sharing its findings with security researchers, other platforms, and policymakers.

The company also issued ‘cease and desist warnings’ to the companies involved and alerted people who may have been targeted to help them strengthen the security of their various Meta-connected accounts, report said.

Possible outcomes of efforts

Meta, in spite of the immediate concern, said in its threat report that there’s actually some good that can come out of this situation.

The company is requesting that governments and technology companies come together to work on three key components, including the following:

Greater transparency and oversight: Meta sees a need for more international oversight that establishes transparency and “know your customer” standards.

These standards would cover social platforms and surveillance-for-hire entities so that they are held accountable.

Industry collaboration: Surveillance efforts show up differently depending on individual platforms, but Meta stated that industry-wide collaboration is critical if Big Tech wants to fully understand and stop adversarial surveillance efforts before they spin out of control.

Governance and ethics: While Facebook’s history is covered with faux pas that put the company’s trustworthiness in question at congressional hearings, Meta says it now welcomes domestic and international efforts to raise accountability through legislation, export controls, and regulatory actions.

Agranovich and Dvilyanski added: “We also encourage broader conversations about the ethics of using these surveillance technologies by law enforcement and private companies, as well as creating effective victim protection regimes.”