A federal court in California has uncovered evidence accusing Meta Platforms of secretly monitoring users of Snapchat, YouTube, and Amazon. The court documents reveal Facebook's covert project named 'Project Ghostbusters,' which was reportedly launched in 2016. The move was aimed at intercepting and decoding network traffic between Snapchat users and its servers. Here is everything we know so far.
A report from TechCrunch asserts that Facebook's 'Project Ghostbusters' aimed to understand user behaviour and surpass Snapchat in terms of competition. Internal discussions among Facebook executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, revealed efforts to access Snapchat's encrypted data for analytics.
Zuckerberg emphasised the need for dependable insights into Snapchat's expanding user base, proposing the exploration of alternative data collection methods. Facebook engineers suggested using Onavo, a Virtual Private Network service acquired in 2013, to intercept and analyse traffic from specific subdomains. This revelation sheds light on Facebook's strategic efforts to gather competitive intelligence and enhance its market position relative to Snapchat.
The project expanded to include monitoring traffic from Amazon and YouTube as well. The court documents revealed that some senior executives along with a team of approximately 41 lawyers were involved in 'Project Ghostbusters,' illustrating the significance of the initiative within Facebook.
Despite its ambitions, not all Facebook employees supported 'Project Ghostbusters.' Concerns were raised regarding the ethical implications and privacy concerns associated with intercepting encrypted traffic. Jay Parikh, Facebook's then-head of infrastructure engineering, and Pedro Canahuati, the then-head of security engineering, expressed reservations about the project's legitimacy.
Canahuati also talked about the discomfort among security personnel regarding such practices, irrespective of any consent obtained from the public. The revelation of internal dissent highlights the ethical dilemmas faced within Facebook regarding user privacy and data collection practices.
The controversy surrounding 'Project Ghostbusters' adds to Facebook's history of privacy violations and controversies. In 2019, Facebook shut down Onavo following an investigation that uncovered the company's covert efforts to access users' web activity by encouraging teenagers to use the service.
The latest revelations raise serious questions about Facebook's commitment to user privacy and ethical data practices, raising calls for better transparency and accountability from tech giants in handling user data.