{"id":1128903,"date":"2021-12-17T15:13:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T20:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1128903"},"modified":"2021-12-17T15:13:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T20:13:47","slug":"facebook-bans-surveillance-for-hire-companies-that-spied-on-50000-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebook-bans-surveillance-for-hire-companies-that-spied-on-50000-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Bans &#039;Surveillance-For-Hire&#039; Companies That Spied on 50,000 Users"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffacebook-bans-surveillance-for-hire-companies-that-spied-on-50000-users%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1128903&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Facebook (now known as Meta) has banned seven \u201cSurveillance-For-Hire\u201d companies that it claims spied on 50,000 users including human rights activists, government critics, celebrities, journalists, and more in over 100 countries.<\/p>\n<p>NPR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/12\/16\/1064628654\/facebook-bans-surveillance-firms-that-spied-on-50000-people\">reports<\/a>&nbsp;that Facebook\u2019s parent company, Meta, has banned seven firms that it claims used its platforms to spy on 50,000 unsuspected targets. The companies were branded as \u201csurveillance-for-hire\u201d firms that were linked to around 1,500 accounts on Facebook and Instagram used to spy on human rights activists, government critics, celebrities, journalists, and more.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_11271932\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"41\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1140291756-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11271932\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1140291756-1.jpg\" alt width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is applauded as he delivers the opening keynote introducing new Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram privacy features at the Facebook F8 Conference at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California on April 30, 2019. \u2013 Got a crush on another Facebook user? The social network will help you connect, as part of a revamp unveiled Tuesday that aims to foster real-world relationships and make the platform a more intimate place for small groups of friends. (Photo by Amy Osborne \/ AFP) (Photo credit should read AMY OSBORNE\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The aim of the surveillance operations was to trick people into handing over personal information so that the firm could install spyware on their devices, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2021\/12\/taking-action-against-surveillance-for-hire\/\">report<\/a> released by Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Nathaniel Gleicher, the internet giant\u2019s head of security policy, told NPR: \u201cEach of these actors rely on networks of fake accounts on our platforms that are used to deceive users and mislead them.\u201d Some firms also used WhatsApp, also owned by Facebook, to attempt to infect targets\u2019 phones. Surveillance was also carried out over other internet services including email, text message, Twitter, and YouTube. Gleicher stated that the goal was&nbsp;to \u201cspy on people or snoop on them without them knowing about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spyware is a growing problem for tech firms. Facebook and Apple have both sued the Israel-based NGO Group over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tech\/2021\/07\/23\/pegasus-spyware-targeted-10-prime-ministers-3-presidents-and-a-king\/\">development<\/a> of its Pegasus software which has been linked to hacks and potential surveillance of thousands of people. But Meta has noted that NSO&nbsp;\u201cis only one piece of a much broader global mercenary ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the firms recently banned from Facebook is Black Cube, an Israel-based intelligence group that Facebook claims created fake accounts posing as graduate students, human rights workers, and film and TV producers to lure in targets. Black Cube told NPR in a statement that it&nbsp; \u201cdoes not undertake any phishing or hacking and does not operate in the cyber world.\u201d The company claimed that it is a \u201clitigation support firm\u201d using legal investigation methods.<\/p>\n<p>Read more at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/12\/16\/1064628654\/facebook-bans-surveillance-firms-that-spied-on-50000-people\">NPR here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-107 paragraph-0-2-12\"><strong><i>Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<\/i><i><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/lucasnolan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">@LucasNolan<\/a>&nbsp;<\/i><i>or contact via secure email at the address&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"mailto:lucasnolan@protonmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">lucasnolan@protonmail.com<\/a><\/i><i><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook (now known as Meta) has banned seven \u201cSurveillance-For-Hire\u201d companies that it claims spied on 50,000 users including human rights activists, government critics, celebrities, journalists, and more in over 100 &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1128903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1128903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1128903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1128903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1128903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}