Meta sues 'scraping-for-hire' service that sells user data to law enforcement

Enlarge Getty Images

Meta said it was suing Voyager Labs, a "scratch-for-hire" service, for allegedly using fake accounts, proprietary software, and a sprawling network of IP addresses to surreptitiously harvest huge amounts of personal data from users of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social networking sites.

"The defendant created and used over 38,000 fake Facebook user accounts and its monitoring software to retrieve the visible profile information of over 600,000 Facebook users, including posts, 'I' likes,” friends lists, photos, and comments, and information from Facebook groups and pages,” the attorneys wrote in Meta’s lawsuit. “Defendant designed the surveillance software to conceal his presence and activity to Meta and others, and has sold and licensed for profit the data it has collected."

"Highlighting individuality"

Among the California-based Facebook users whose data was removed, Meta said, were "employees at nonprofits, universities, news organizations, health care facilities healthcare providers, the United States Armed Forces, and local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as full-time parents, retirees, and union members. Meta said that data collection and use fake accounts violate its terms of service.

Voyager Labs, headquartered in Israel, markets itself as an "AI-powered surveys" service that collects data from "billions of 'human pixels' and signals" and uses artificial intelligence to map relationships, track geographic locations and provide other personal data. to "public security agencies".

"By leveraging this vast ocean of data, they can gain actionable insights into individuals, groups, and topics, then dive deep to discover even more," company officials wrote in marketing materials attached to the Meta complaint. The tagline on Voyager Labs letterhead is: "Bringing Individuality to Light."

In one case, the service used Facebook posts to identify the full names of an Italian marathon runner and his wife who had been infected with COVID-19. The service then provided a list of friends and people who had interacted with the runner. In another case, Voyager Labs identified patrons of a British pub who may have contracted the deadly virus.

Among the clients of Voyager Labs, according to the exhibits, is the Los Angeles Police Department. Testimony provided by a member of the department stated that Voyager Labs was "able to identify a few new targets in a much easier to read format" and was "able to process warrant returns much faster, which was much more easy to read".

Images from some of the exhibits can be found in the gallery below: