SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook parent Meta announced the banning of a number of “cyber mercenary” organizations on Thursday, as well as the notification of approximately 50,000 people who may have been targeted by the companies accused of spying on activists, dissidents, and journalists throughout the world.
Meta took down 1,500 Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to groups that allegedly offered services ranging from gathering public information online to building trust with targets via phoney identities or digital eavesdropping via cyber attempts.
In addition, the social media giant has begun informing approximately 50,000 people it believes may have been targeted in more than 100 countries by companies including several from Israel, which is a major participant in the cybersurveillance industry.
“The surveillance-for-hire industry… looks like indiscriminate targeting on behalf of the highest bidder,” Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Meta, told a press briefing.
Facebook’s parent company says it removed accounts linked to Israeli companies Cobwebs Technologies, Cognyte, Black Cube, and Bluehawk CI.
BellTroX, a company based in India, Cytrox, a company based in North Macedonia, and an undisclosed Chinese business all had accounts tied to them banned from Meta platforms.
Researchers from Citizen Lab, a Canadian cybersecurity company, accused Cytrox of producing and distributing malware that was used to hack Egyptian opposition activist Ayman Nour’s phone on Thursday.
“These cyber mercenaries often claim that their services only target criminals and terrorists,” said a Meta statement.
“Targeting is in fact indiscriminate and includes journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition members and human rights activists,” it added. “We have banned them from our services.”
Black Cube, in a statement to AFP, denied wrongdoing or even operating in the “cyber world.”
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