Mar 27, 2024 10:45:00

It is revealed that Meta was proceeding with 'Project Ghostbusters' to intercept Snapchat communication contents

Meta has been facing

an antitrust class action lawsuit since 2020 for allegedly misusing data extracted from its users to hinder the development of emerging competitors. Documents filed in court on March 23, 2024 reveal that from 2016 to 2019, Meta operated ``Project Ghostbusters,'' which intercepted communications from competing service Snapchat . It has been pointed out.

gov.uscourts.cand.369872.735.0.pdf
(PDF file) https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.369872/gov.uscourts.cand.369872.735.0.pdf

Project Ghostbusters: Facebook Accused of Using Your Phone to Wiretap Snapchat

https://gizmodo.com/project-ghostbusters-facebook-meta-wiretap-snapchat-1851366093

Facebook snooped on users' Snapchat traffic in secret project, documents reveal | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/26/facebook-secret-project-snooped-snapchat-user-traffic/

According to court filings, Meta intercepted users' Snapchat activities through the VPN app Onavo Protect from 2016 to 2019. This Onavo Protect was removed from the App Store in 2018 for violating guidelines, as it was pointed out that ``Once installed, it collects user information and sends it to Meta even if the function is turned off.'' .

Facebook's VPN app 'Onavo Protect' will be removed from the App Store - GIGAZINE

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told some executives in 2016, ``When you ask a question about Snapchat, they usually say, ``Snapchat traffic is encrypted, so we can't analyze it.'' Considering the speed of Snapchat's growth. 'It's important to find new ways to get reliable analysis. Perhaps you need to write a panel or custom software. Please figure out how.' It is reported that this is connected to ``Project Ghostbusters''.

'Project Ghostbusters' creates a 'kit' that can intercept traffic of specific apps on iOS and Android devices that have Onvao Protect installed, and collects traffic and data on Snapchat. 'By deploying the kit, we will be able to read encrypted traffic and measure Snapchat usage. This is a ' man-in-the-middle ' approach,' said an internal Meta email at the time. There was a statement.

It has been pointed out that Meta has since expanded Project Ghostbusters to Amazon and YouTube.

According to the plaintiff, Project Ghostbusters

involved Meta's senior management team at the time and approximately 41 lawyers (PDF file) . In addition, Mr. Zuckerberg is also directly involved in this project, and it has been revealed that an email was sent to Mr. Zuckerberg in 2019 asking ``Should the project be stopped?''

Prosecutors claim that ``Meta violated America's wiretapping law, which prohibits intentional interception of other people's electronic communications,'' and ``Onavo Protect was spyware and a tool for eavesdropping.''

On the other hand, Meta countered, saying, ``The plaintiff's claims are baseless and completely unrelated to this lawsuit.The points raised this time happened many years ago and are not new at all.''